Strange Things
by rdwest
Summary: While leaving the Nostrades, Kurapika runs into Kuroro. Only Kuroro doesn't remember him. In fact, he doesn't remember anything, not even being a member of the infamous Troupe who murdered his clan. Takes place after Yorknew City Arc...ish?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** **:** Hunter x Hunter ain't mine. It's belongs to hiatus king Yoshihiro Togashi.

 **One**

 _Slowly._

That's how his days seemed to pass by. _Slowly_ and Kurapika felt that his time could be better spend anywhere else, doing anything else.

He made his way through the Nostrade's mansion, slowly shuffling down the ornately decorated halls in search of the only person who could out-slow him any day of the week. _Senritsu._ She'd been busy pretending to be busy, because lately there had been nothing to do in terms of work and Light's bodyguards were more or less free to go and do as they wish. Not that any of them did anything other than drink and lament their misfortunes. It was an easy job though, guarding a man who never stepped off his front lawn.

His search for Senritsu was not an attempt to pass the time however, or find something to do, or even someone to talk to. A lead on a pair of the Eyes had caught his attention, _another lead hopefully not a dead-end this time,_ and since she had previously helped him look for some a few weeks ago it felt only right to tell her he was going to leave to look for another. No one else would, but she would notice his absence and might even come looking for him.

She sat in the living room, next to the piano. She wasn't playing it, wasn't even looking at it. Her bored gaze rested on a silent bird perched on the windowsill.

"Another lead?" Her eyebrows went up. She didn't turn to look at him, but continued to stare at the bird.

Kurapika nodded. "Another lead."

"Where? Who?"

"You know, the usual he-said, she-said." Not exactly the truth, so he decided to be less vague. "Apparently a pair was spotted in a museum not too far from here so I'm going to at least verify it's not there."

Her brows came together in a thoughtful expression. "Really? Must have been recently moved there, because I went there not to long ago." She turned to him and grinned. "When are we leaving?"

He cleared his throat. "I think I'll look for them on my own."

"On your own?"

He nodded. It wasn't that he didn't want her company, he didn't want any company honestly.

There was a strange mixture of disappointment and annoyance on her face, and suspicion, which confused him because she of all people had no reason to be upset. Just yesterday, she had reminded him about his goal to collect the remaining Scarlet Eyes. _Don't be discouraged, you'll find them eventually._ And just yesterday he had remembered how many he'd managed to collect in the last few months: _zero_.

"Sure, well at least let me know if you need any help," she said. "How long will you be gone?"

He shrugged and told her he'd be back shortly, _before the end of the week_ , and that he wasn't leaving for good, she looked at him sourly as he shoved his cell phone in his pocket and bid her goodbye.

As he shuffled towards the exit, he wondered if he should just leave for good. Maybe not permanently, but at least for a little while. The Nostrades could do nothing for him anymore, with Light's fortune and Neon's Nen ability, had also gone most of his connections, and Kurapika would rather part on relatively amicable terms with his teammates, which in his mind meant not saying anything to them before leaving. His leave wasn't a permanent thing; Light Nostrade probably would notice his absence, but not for a while. The man had been in disarray since Neon had lost her Nen, and much of his fortune was dwindling down to nothing. He scarcely left his room anymore and when he did, it was usually just to see if they were still there _protecting his nonexistent fortune._

He exited through one of the mansion's back doors. Though he wasn't trying to be sneaky, he felt like a child stealing cookies in the middle of the night as he stepped into the cool morning air. It was strange, leaving with only his phone, wallet, and chains, but he also felt oddly at ease as he made his onto the main road. He had no debts to anyone, no obligations to anyone; not even his friends. His life was his own and he would use it to collect the remaining Scarlet Eyes and give his clan rest.

His phone buzzed. _Senritsu already?_

 _No,_ it was Leorio. The two hadn't spoken in a few months, though the fault of that rested solely on Kurapika's shoulders. His finger hovered over the answer button.

"Hey!"

Kurapika looked up, his phone still buzzing angrily in his hand. But the large man ahead of him who'd just yelled wasn't looking at him. The voice belonged to a rather rotund individual standing in front of a lithe, hooded figure in the middle of the road.

"I asked for your wallet," the portly man said, fist still raised.

The hooded figure gave a shrug. "And I said I don't have one."

The man clenched his fist and raised it. "Let's see if—"

Kurapika swung his chain somewhat without thinking; it wrapped itself around the man's fist. A look of surprise crossed his face as Kurapika jerked his chain, causing the man to tumble to the ground. Somehow, he fell on his face and let out a yowl.

"My nose!" He cried. "I think my nose is broken!"

Kurapika pulled his chain away. The hooded figure delivered a kick to the man's head that would have knocked an elephant out, and the man went silent and still. Kurapika winced, but he couldn't say the gesture wasn't deserved. _Maybe._ The man was a thief _and a coward. But hopefully he's not dead._

"Thanks for the help," the figure said.

"Sure." Kurapika looked at him, before crouching down to inspect the prone body lying on the ground. _Still breathing._ He stood up. There was something oddly familiar about the hooded man's voice, _and his face…_ " Have I met you before?"

"Have you?" The man pulled down his hood, revealing his face. "I don't think we have."

A swell of emotions poured over him; the strongest of which was confusion. _What is he doing here? Why is he dressed like that?_ The second emotion that hit him with more clarity was anger.

"…Kuroro?" Kurapika said.


	2. Chapter 2

_Kuroro?_

The name seemed to echo in his head. Kurapika's brain had yet to catch up to his eyes, _or something._ He figured he was dreaming, _or something._ Because there was no way, even by mistake, he would have rescued the leader of the Ryodan.

"Who?" the man said.

Kurapika blinked. Had he been thinking straight he probably would have killed _the_ Spider on the spot, or at least tried very hard to. But something made him pause for half a second and take a closer look, and that closer look revealed that although the man in front of him resembled Kuroro, it simply couldn't be him.

"Kuroro Lucifer?" he asked.

The man shook his head. "Not me. I don't think."

"You…don't think?"

The man grinned. He shoved a hand in one of his jean pockets. "I'm not sure who I am. Woke up one day and couldn't remember anything. So if you recognize me, that'd be great actually."

"Oh." _I must be mistaken._ The man wasn't dressed like Kuroro; his hair was longer than he remembered Kuroro's being and his skin was darker, tanned, like he'd been wandering around in a desert all day. His chin had the beginnings of a five o clock shadow.

Kurapika blinked a few more times. _I'm being sort of creepy right now_. "You look like someone I've met before."

"It's a start I guess. Sure you don't know me?"

Kurapika looked again. "I'm sure."

The man gave a nod. "Well, thanks again for the help. Point me in the direction of town."

"Which town?"

"That's a good question. Not sure where this is."

"Where did you wake up…not remembering anything?"

"Not sure about that either. Think it was some sort of warehouse maybe, not far from here."

"Oh." He considered pointing him, but since he was headed into town anyway to catch the train, he offered to walk him there.

As they shuffled down the road and talked, the man informed him he didn't know anything, not even his name; he'd simply woken up somewhere and not known how or where he got there, or when, or why. He had no identification on him either, just what he was wearing and a few things in his pockets that didn't mean anything. The only thing he was certain of was that his amnesia, and however he'd winded up with it, was his own doing.

There was an old warehouse somewhere in the city, but he wasn't sure which city or town it was anymore, that he'd woken up in. He'd left the warehouse hoping that a walk would clear his head and bring his memories to him, or that he'd at least run into someone who recognized him.

"But I walked to far, you don't know me, and no one else does either," the man finished. "So it doesn't seem to have worked plus I can't remember how to get back."

"No, I don't think so, " Kurapika said, though he wasn't sure.

"But I look like someone you know?"

"Yeah."

"Who is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Someone I don't like," he said.

The man nodded. "Glad you didn't kill me by accident then."

Kurapika gave him a look. "I was certainly thinking about it."

The man's lazy grin put him at ease though. _No way it's him._ Though he was certain there were ways even someone like the leader of the Ryodan could end up with amnesia, he didn't think that was the case now. In fact the more Kurapika thought on it, the more he was sure there was no way _someone like him could lose his memories._

They made it into town safely. Kurapika told him he was headed to the train station, though he felt almost sorry to part ways with him. The nicer part of him wanted to help him out, at least get him to someone he knew. But the less kinder part of him didn't want to get distracted from his goal.

"Well, thanks regardless," he said. "Uh what's your name by the way?"

"Kurapika and you're...?"

He shrugged. "Kuroro sounds nice to me. Until I remember my name at least."

He scrunched up his face, _but I won't see him after this. I don't care what he calls himself._ "Right. I'll see you around."

"See you around."

Kurapika departed, purchasing a ticket at the train station and waiting for the train to arrive. He still needed to decide if he was leaving Light for good, or just for a bit. His employer was practically on 24/7 bed rest now due to sheer stress and his fortune was close to crumbling. None of the bodyguards had been properly paid in quite a bit and the ones still there, like himself and Senritsu, were staying only until a better opportunity afforded itself. If he chose to stay with Light, _will it help me obtain the Scarlet Eyes?_

 _Probably,_ but only if he managed to get himself into a position where he had more influence. Right now, he didn't know much, but maybe he could talk to Light. Ask him what he did exactly and figure out some way to help him keep his fortune.

The train's whistle blared announcing it was time for their departure. He made his way into the train slowly and found his seat, thoughts still buzzing around his head like gnats.

He would take a vacation and come back. He would help Light Nostrad restore his fortune and maybe then he would have a better shot at finding the Scarlet Eyes. His main issue now was that he didn't know where to look, and the places he did know where to look, he didn't have access too. Even now, he wasn't sure how he would get the Eyes from the museum _if they're even there._ But with Light, he could get access to those places. _Maybe I could take his place even._ Lofty thoughts.

At some point he drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up the train was coming to a screeching halt. He waited for a while before getting off. His vision met with a familiar face near the stairs leading out of the train station, standing there holding a map

Kurapika blinked.

"You following me?" Kuroro asked.

"I could ask the same question," Kurapika said, wondering how he saw him. He shuffled over to him. "What are you doing here?"

The man cleared his throat. "Well don't tell anyone but I swiped a ticket from someone and boarded a random train."

"Your boarded a random train?" Kurapika said. "You stole someone's ticket?"

"No money." He gave a shrug. "I left them a note saying I was sorry."

"I hope they didn't need that ticket," he replied. _Why am I talking with him at all?_ "Hopefully, you'll find what you're looking for here."

"You too, Kurapika." He grinned, shoving his hand into his pocket. A frown crossed his lips.

He knew he was being overly nice at this point, but he decided to ask anyway. "What is it?"

"Eh, I think it's some kind of clue as to how I went missing." He pulled a small, clear box out of his pocket.

Kurapika stared at it for a long time before saying anything. "Where did you get that?"

The man looked at him curiously. "I wish I knew...do you know what it is?"

"...But where did you get it from?"

Kuroro waved a hand in front of his face. "You have rocks for brains?"

"What?"

"I mean, no offense, but I just said I wish I knew where I got it from." He extended it towards him. "It's clear you recognize it though, so what is it?"

Kurapika looked at the scarlet eye, swallowing his annoyance. _Maybe this is fortune smiling on me for once._ "Isn't there another?" He realized what a dumb question that was after the fact and mentally slapped himself.

"I would think so unless that red eye comes from some strange one-eyed creature," he said. "But I'm not sure."

"Right, sorry." He nodded, wondering if perchance it came from the museum he was heading to. But he felt that wasn't the case.

"So you have no idea...at all?" Kurapika asked.

"Uh no but if I remember you can have this one. And the other one. Not an offer you have to accept, but you're the first person I've run into who even knew what this was and I feel like my memory loss is related to this somehow."

"You feel like it?"

"I've got a hunch."

"So you want me to help you restore your memory?" He asked.

"Was I subtle enough?"

"Even though I'm a stranger."

"You saved a poor old dude from getting mugged, you can't be that bad." He grinned, rather disarmingly too.

Kurapika thought about it for a minute. This seemed like an easy catch, _whatever happened to him couldn't have happened far from here and the other eye can't be far from here either._ He could potentially come back with two pairs of the Scarlet Eyes. Or if the museum turned out to be a dead end, he'd at least have one pair.

"Alright," he said. "I'll help you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Kurapika was feeling some type of way as he stared at a large map stretched across the table in the library. He felt moderately annoyed to be wasting his time helping this _faux-Kuroro_ regain his memories, more annoyed that as usual he had to rely on someone else to get what he needed. And the issue of how _this individual_ had managed to obtain one of the Scarlet Eyes lingered in the back of his mind like a gnat.

But maybe Kuroro was just extremely wealthy, like Light Nostrade who liked to collect expensive things. Maybe that's how he'd gotten himself in trouble to begin with.

But that idea only made Kurapika dislike him even more.

He cast a glance at the _not-Kuroro_ as he sat in front of the table. Kurapika still didn't like the idea of calling him that, _Kuroro,_ but it seemed too rude to outright say he should change his name for his sake, and there wasn't a good way to bring up the topic without explaining why he was looking for the Scarlet Eyes in the first place. He had let Kuroro believe he was simply interested in them because he was a collector of rare and unusual things.

He frowned and held his dowsing chain in front of Kuroro.

"And this will work?" Kuroro asked for maybe the fifth time in the last two minutes.

"Yeah. This is a dowsing chain and it'll swing if you're lying," Kurapika replied.

"About anything?"

"Anything. So don't lie at all."

He shrugged. "I'll try. Ask away."

"Is your real name Kuroro Lucifer?"

"Nope."

Kurapika held his hand perfectly still, fully expecting the chain to start swaying after a few seconds.

But it didn't. A grimace crossed his face. "You sure?" Kurapika asked.

He gave a single nod. "I'm one-hundred percent certain."

"That's awfully high." But there was still no movement from his chain. Even after a few minutes. _Nothing._ He sighed, fishing around his head for another question. "Are you a member of the Phantom Troupe?"

"Nope."

"Do you know who they are?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Nothing. _Damn it._

"I don't know what else to ask," Kurapika said. "Wait, do you really not remember anything?"

"I don't remember anything," Kuroro said. "Except waking up in that warehouse."

Kurapika nodded. His chain didn't move no matter how long he waited. Finally, he sat down in the other chair at the table and sunk down into it. "I guess that's it."

The dark-haired man shot him a look. "Well, you just wanted to confirm I'm not who you think I am, so I think we're okay to move on."

"Sure." He sat up.

Since Kuroro had appeared _somewhere around here_ and, of his own admission, hadn't traveled very far from where he'd woken up, Kurapika figured he had to be from _somewhere around here_. And the warehouse he had come from had to be _somewhere around here_ too.

"Do you recall anything about the warehouse you were in?" His gaze fell down to the map.

"Big, mostly empty. I think maybe there were some crates around. Black."

"Anything in the crates."

He shrugged. "I didn't check so I'm not sure."

"Okay…black crates?" His eyebrows went up.

"That's a bit unusual, isn't it? I bet they're specific to a company…or something."

"Yeah." _I've seen black crates somewhere else before, but where?_ He let his mind wander, but nothing came to him right away and he didn't feel like dwelling on the matter for very long. _Let's just start at one of the warehouses and see if it jogs his memory._ Kuroro seemed to be alright with that suggestion, so he folded up the map and the two of them headed out of the library and into the quiet streets. It was still fairly early in the morning and the weather was still cool despite bright sun beating down on them.

 _The sooner he finds his memories, the sooner I get the Eyes, the sooner I leave._

* * *

The first warehouse they found somewhat too conveniently had a few black crates lying outside of it. Kurapika spent some time inspecting them, but most of them were completely empty. The few that contained anything, contained only random bits of debris and dirt. The warehouse itself was huge and gray. And all its doors and windows were locked shut tightly.

"We could break a window?" Kuroro suggested.

"No?"

"Why not?"

Kurapika tried not to glower at him too harshly. "Breaking and entering is punishable by law; also trespassing can come with hefty fines, or jail time."

"So let's not get caught?"

"For someone who doesn't remember anything, you seem to have a propensity for thievery," Kurapika replied, his gaze narrowing at the taller man.

"Maybe I am a thief." He shrugged, but a slight frown flickered across his face for a moment before disappearing. He walked over to one of the windows and stared at it. "While I find your moral compass quite endearing, I'm sort of eager to regain my memory and if that means breaking a window so be it. I'll take all the blame if we get caught."

"How would you do that?"

He turned towards him and grinned. "I'll say I kidnapped you. Maybe tie you up with you chains."

Kurapika shook his head, but something about his smile made him not protest as Kuroro smashed through the window with one of the crates. And he did follow him inside, carefully avoiding the glass scattering the ground.

Inside the warehouse was a lot of free space, a few black crates sprinkled here and there, and enough dust to create an army of dust bunnies. _It doesn't look like anyone's been here in years._

"Maybe it's another warehouse?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro ran his hand against the wall. A layer of dust coated his fingers. "What gives you that idea?"

"Funny."

"I think you may be right actually. This place probably hasn't seen a living thing in months."

"Certainly nothing as big as you." An idea popped into his head. _I guess I can try it._ He activated Gyo and took a look around. But there was nothing unusual anywhere, nothing at all actually. But there was something attached to Kuroro's right leg that he hadn't noticed before.

A needle with a string attached to it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

 _I've seen something like this before..._

The silver needle attached to Kuroro's leg was one Kurapika recognized as he studied it. Not the needle itself, it was quite a regular needle by all outward appearances, but it was the feeling he got that reminded him of something. _Or someone._ And the first thought that came to his mind was that one of the Spiders had used something similar back in Yorkshin to keep track of one of their own.

"There's a needle attached to a string." Kurapika pointed to the man's leg. "Recognize it?"

Kuroro crouched down and inspected his leg. He pulled the needle out and held it in front of his face. "What string are you referring to exactly."

He gestured towards the needle. "The one attached to the needle."

One of his eyebrows went up as he glanced at the silver needle, then back at him. "This needle, in my hand, has a string attached to it?"

"Yeah."

"Is that the reason you're looking for eyeballs?"

Kurapika leaned back and glared up at him. "What?"

"Is your vision going? You need a replacement or something?" Kuroro's voice had a playful lilt to it, but Kurapika could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn't joking.

His muscles tensed and he felt his body temperature rising steadily. _Is he lying?_ Somehow, he'd balled his fist together. Relaxing his hand, he took a deep breath. _Maybe he doesn't know about Nen. If so, he can't use Gyo to see the string._ "It's attached to a...really tiny thread, so you might not be able to see it."

"So how do you see it?"

"I have unusually good eyesight," he replied, without a hint of sarcasm.

Kuroro snorted. "Sure, sure. Can we follow the string? See if it takes us down the yellow brick road?"

Kurapika shot him a sullen look. "Do you think that's a smart idea?"

"I think many things, not sure if any of them are smart."

He had to turn his face away to obscure his unexpected grin. It actually was a smart idea; someone had attached this needle to Kuroro for some reason, whether it was to keep track of him, or lead him back to whatever had caused his memory loss. Kurapika figured it hadn't been attached to him for very long either, so he agreed to see where it led. But the more he considered it, the more it seemed an ill-idea. There was no telling where the thread would take them, nor who was at the other end and Kuroro had no clue where it came from or how it got there _, and he can't even see the string._ Or maybe he could and was just pretending. Kurapika hadn't brought up Nen because the real Kuroro would know about that, _but this isn't Kuroro...is it?_

He still wasn't entirely sure but his mind leaned more towards _no it's not him_ every time he glanced at his way. Kurapika picked up the string and they followed it outside and down the road a little ways.

"You're looking for something," A voice behind him said.

He spun around. An old man dressed in overalls with a strange crescent shaped scar on his face sat on a dying tree branch, leaning against its trunk lazily. He held a cigarette between his wrinkled fingers.

"Come again?" Kurapika asked.

"You are looking for Scarlet Eyes?" The man pulled something out of his pocket and held it up in the sunlight. It was a glass jar containing a single eyeball. "I figure as much since you're walking around with that clueless look on your faces and holding my needle."

"Where did you get that from?" That was Kuroro standing next to Kurapika, and he looked about as confused as Kurapika felt, which further made him think the man didn't really know anything.

The old man gave a tiny shrug. He plopped the cigarette in his mouth. "Does it matter? I'll give it back if you answer my riddle."

"Give it back?" Kuroro said.

"I'm not answering anything!" Kurapika took a step forward. "You'll give it to me now."

The man blew smoke into the air. "You can try to take it from me if you want…kid."

Kurapika glared in the man's direction, readying his chain to slap the cigarette out of his mouth. But Kuroro put a firm hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "What are the conditions for your riddle and what happens if we're wrong?"

 _Are you kidding me?_ Kurapika turned his glower to Kuroro, who ignored him.

"You only get one guess and if you're wrong I'll put a curse on you." The man grinned revealing a near toothless smile. "If you get it right, I'll give it to you and maybe even tell you how I got it from you. In fact, I think I will tell you how I got it. If you're wrong well...I haven't decided what sort of curse I want to give you two yet."

"Seems a bit unfair that we go into this not knowing what you'll curse us with, don't you think?" Kuroro asked. "You must not get many takers."

The man looked up at the sky for a moment as if in deep thought. He raised the smoking cigarette to his mouth. "Alright. You two have to stay together until you restore his memories. That's my curse, yes. Take some time to discuss it for a minute before deciding for I can tell that one with the blonde hair wants to take a guess badly." He leaned back against the tree's trunk and continued smoking.

"Whatever he's going to ask is gonna be a trick question," Kuroro said. "Some bull like what's my name most likely."

Kurapika brushed the man's arm off his shoulder. "Whatever it is, I can figure it out."

"Why do I doubt that for some reason?"

Ire rose inside his chest. He inhaled sharply, then exhaled slowly before he said something mean-spirited. "I'm going to guess. You can help me or not."

He gave a shrug. "Suit yourself, kid."

"Made up your minds?" The old man asked.

"Yes. I'm-we're guessing," Kurapika said.

The old man put out his cigarette and jumped down from the tree. "Good. Now what goes up but doesn't come down? You get only one guess. There's no time limit, but if you walk away without answering, the curse will still fall on you. If you decide not to guess however, that is fine. Simply say 'I give up' and I'll go away. There's no strings attached, if you get my meaning."

 _What comes up but doesn't come down?_ Age _._ It was the first thing that came to his mind, and while it seemed obvious that likely was the point of the riddle. _I should at least ask Kuroro first._

"It's age," Kurapika said.

The taller man's dark eyes narrowed. "I don't think so."

"Well, what else could it be?"

"Not saying you're wrong, just there's probably more to the riddle than that."

"But that's probably the point. To get us over thinking about something simple. These things are always like that." And if he got it wrong, he would steal the eye from the man, _curse or not._ It didn't belong to him, or Kuroro, anyway.

"You have a guess?" The old man asked.

"I wouldn't," Kuroro said. "We can find him later."

"He knows something about your memories too. We'll both get what we want," Kurapika said. And then before Kuroro could say anything else, he said, "It's age."

The old man peered at him. He placed a hand on his chin and shook his head. "You are correct."

But something didn't feel quite right. "...Really?"

"Yes, you have correctly given me...one of the answers I'm looking for." The man snapped his fingers and smirked. "That was a good guess though, I'll give you that. Most people guess something abstract and wild like the Sun and inflation."

Something cold and weighty appeared on Kurapika's left arm.

Handcuffs.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

Kurapika followed the handcuff's chain with his gaze to the other end, where a second identical handcuff was attached to Kuroro's left arm. Then his eyes went up to Kuroro; there was something akin to a question mark on the man's face as he stared at the offending object attached to his wrist.

"What did you do?" Kurapika asked, turning to the old man.

Taking a step back, the old man shrugged and held freckled hands in front of his face. "I said you'd have to stay together until you restored his memories if you got it wrong. Maybe…this will teach you some patience. To listen to others when they warn you against doing something foolish." The old man smirked.

Kurapika lunged at him, but was stopped by the handcuff which jerked him onto his bottom. Kuroro let out a snort from where he stood, somehow having not been moved by Kurapika.

The old man hopped back. Twice. And balanced himself on one foot. "But before I go, since you technically did get part of the question correct so here is a gift for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Eye. He sat it on the ground in front of him."Good luck finding his memories. You will probably need it." The old man turned and ran down the road with more speed than was befitting someone of his age.

A shadow fell over Kurapika. It was Kuroro, his free hand extended down toward him. "Should I say it?" he said, grinning.

"No." He ignored the hand and pushed himself up off the ground.

"Told you so," Kuroro said.

Kurapika glowered in his direction, but he took a deep breath and dusted his hands off. "Let's find something to break these with."

* * *

Three hours and a myriad of methods later, they had come no closer to breaking the handcuffs than they had been when they first started. Although there was nothing unusual about the cuffs as far as he could see, nothing so much as scratched them. No amount of cutting and banging dented them. And Kuroro's picking skills were ineffective in unlocking them.

"Maybe we should start with what we haven't tried at this point." Kurapika was seated on a motel bed, surrounded by pliers, a lighter, and a mountain of others devices that had zero effect on the cuffs.

Sitting on the other side of the bed, Kuroro shrugged. "Cutting off our hands?"

"Funny."

"I really think in order to break these we're gonna have to follow that man's rules."

Kurapika stopped short of rolling his eyes. He was also fairly certain that was the case and that nothing could break these save for maybe a Nen exorcist. But the time needed to find one and the the amount of money he would have to spend wasn't worth it; _it's probably easier and quicker to figure out a way to restore his memories._ "So where do we start?" he asked.

"The Eye?" Kuroro glanced over at the nightstand, where Kurapika had set the Scarlet Eye the old man had given him. Kuroro had yet to cough up his, but it wasn't like he could go anywhere anyway so he wasn't overly worried about it.

"What about it?" he asked.

"I had them for some reason. I also apparently encountered that old man shortly before losing my memories…if that was really an old man." He frowned slightly. "Makes me wonder if my memory loss is the result of some kind of curse."

"It's possible I guess but..." Kurapika didn't think that was quite the case. It would be hard to take someone's memories away. Even a very skilled Nen user, he was certain, couldn't do that. _Did he give them up on purpose?_ He peered at him curiously, still partially unconvinced this wasn't Kuroro. _He's too likeable to be the real Kuroro though._ Memory loss or not, Kuroro Lucifer was a ruthless killer and this man, with his lazy grin and laid-back attitude, couldn't possibly be him.

"What?" Kuroro said.

"Nothing." He shook himself and lifted up his cuffed hand. "So was the riddle a clue?"

"Most likely."

"What clue?"

Kuroro looked up at the ceiling. "Well, what else goes up but never comes down besides age? And height. And heat."

Kurapika leaned toward him. "You knew the other answers and you didn't say anything?"

"At what point did I have a chance to say something before you said the answer?" Kuroro shot him a look. "I told you there was probably more to the riddle than that."

 _Fair enough._ "Fine. You think those are the only answers?"

"Anything could be the answer depending on what he was looking for. Although he did say it wasn't inflation or anything abstract."

Kurapika balled his hand into a fist and banged it against his thigh. "So then what type of clue is the riddle other than a useless one?"

Kuroro put a hand in the air. "I can feel your brain slowing down. Take a deep breath and relax."

Kurapika inhaled sharply. "Don't tell me what to do! I'm in this mess because of you!"

"Well if you had actually listened to me, neither of us would be in this mess and we'd probably both have what we wanted right now." Kuroro swiped his hand across the bed, pushing the tools onto the ground. They clanged noisily onto the carpet as he fell back against the bed. "Let's sleep on it."

He turned away from him, scowling. He went to cross his arms, but couldn't fully because of the cuffs. _Damn it._ The man's calmness annoyed him. _I don't have time for this anyway._ But he glanced over at the figure on the other side of the bed, watching his chest rising and falling steadily for a few seconds. _Is he really asleep?_ He leaned over him and waved a hand in front of his face.

"I'm not asleep."

Kurapika jerked back. "Sorry."

With a sigh, Kuroro sat up. "Alright, so why did he give us that riddle in particular? It wasn't random that's for sure."

Kurapika shrugged. "I don't know."

"Probably has something to do with how I lost my memories. Plus the Eye...I wonder if I stole those Eyes from somewhere?"

 _Probably._ There was no other conceivable reason how he would've gotten them otherwise. But knowing he stole them didn't do much good. _Unless…_

Kurapika decided to admit coming to this area to look for a pair of Scarlet Eyes housed in a museum that was supposedly around here. But a quick search on his phone revealed there to be only one museum within one-hundred miles of the area: The Upside Down Museum. It was an hour's drive away from them, but the description of it was not the kind of museum would house a pair of the Eyes, or anything of value. It was just a museum built with everything inside of it upside down for the entertainment of visitors.

"I really don't think this is the place," Kurapika said, extended the phone to him.

Kuroro took the phone and glanced down at it. "Got any other suggestions?"

"No…I guess we can start there." It was a reach, _but it does sort of make sense._

"Alright. Let's go." Kuroro fell back on the bed. "After I take a nap."


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

Kurapika jerked on the chain connecting them. "No, let's go now."

"What's the rush?" Kuroro asked, eyes closed, head nestled on one of the pillows.

"Are you kidding me?" Kurapika slid off the bed. "We're attached to each other by a chain. That's kind of a pressing matter that needs to be resolved now."

Sighing, Kuroro sat up and raised an eyebrow. "So are you comfortable walking around attached together like this because you strike me as the type that's not."

Kurapika's brows snapped together. "You don't know anything about me."

With his free hand, the man pointed at the tools he'd pushed onto the floor. "Considering how you insisted on covering our cuffed hands with a pillow case when we went to buy all this stuff, I think I know that much about you at least," he said. "Which in my opinion looks odder than if he just walked around with the handcuffs out in the open. The worst anyone will assume about us is that we're into some kinky stuff."

His face flushed slightly. "That's a pretty bad assumption if you ask me." He looked down at the chain connecting them. _It's not like we have a choice, but_ walking around attached to each other somewhere as public as a museum would be downright embarrassing.

"Is there a way to hide it in a not obvious manner?"

"Well how long is it exactly?" Kuroro got off the bed and walked toward the motel's door. "Roughly seven feet. So no, there's no way to hide it really unless you can make it invisible somehow."

 _That long?_ It seemed a lot shorter a few minutes ago. "You've got to be kidding me." He reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. Realistically, their options were few. They could walk really close to each other and attempt to conceal it, but that might look awkward. To throw something on top of it and walk far away from each other would be even stranger. Walking through the store had been bad enough, and there they'd only encountered the cashier and two other patrons before taking some back alleys to the motel they were currently in.

"It doesn't bother me," Kuroro clarified. "We could hold hands, I really don't care."

"Whatever." He sat back down on the bed. "Let's wait until night to go at least."

"So we're gonna break into the museum?" His eyebrows went up and he smile. "Because their hours, according to the website, are 11:00 am until 6:00 pm."

"I guess so."

"Awesome." Kuroro flopped down onto the bed and shut his eyes. "I get to take my nap after all."

* * *

Kurapika pulled into a parking lot across the street from the museum. Despite the late hour, nearly midnight, there were several people ambling down the sidewalks, some slow like molasses, others hurrying as if in a rush.

"How do we break in?" Kurapika asked, turning to Kuroro.

He shrugged slightly. "Pick a lock?"

"Of a museum?"

"Not the front doors. Let's see if they have any side doors that might be easy to get into, or windows. But then we have to worry about tripping alarms and silent security systems."

"We should've come during the day, so we wouldn't have to worry about this."

"Basically." He sighed. "So which door are we going out of this time?"

"Mine." Kurapika opened the driver's side door and climbed out. Kuroro had to awkwardly climb across the seat to follow him. Kicking the door shut with his foot, the man turned toward the museum.

"See if we knew exactly what we were looking for, tripping the alarm wouldn't be a concern of mine," he said. "We could get in and out quickly."

Kurapika's shot him a look. "For someone who has no memories, you sure know about breaking into places."

"Must be some innate part of me." He grinned. "But seriously, we can either risk there being no alarm, or we can see if we can locate a key somewhere or somehow. There's someone on the roof now actually, so maybe our problem's already solved."

A woman sat on the edge of the roof, her feet dangling delicately in the air. With a shove, she launched herself down and landed on her feet in the middle of the parking lot.

"Let's catch her and ask," Kuroro said, tugging him forward as he ran.

Kurapika hurried to catch up to him. _He's pretty fast._ The woman, for her part, seemed shocked to see anyone and more shocked that they were running for her. She crouched down, like a cat, and bared her teeth.

"We're not gonna call the cops on you," Kurapika said. _What is she doing?_

Her small eyes darted from him to Kuroro as they came to stand in front of her.

"We want to know if you broke inside just now and how." Kuroro threw his hands in the air. "White flag. I promise."

Her eyes moved to the chain connecting them, a look of confusion marring her features momentarily. Then, she straightened her back. "Why?"

"We didn't want to pay to get into the museum," Kuroro said. "But we still want to look around."

Kurapika had to resist the urge to slap him.

"No. Why should I believe you?" Her bare feet dragged across the ground as she stepped back.

"You shouldn't actually. If I were you, I would've run but you didn't so the least you can do is tell us how you got inside."

The woman jerked something off her neck and dangled it in front of them. A key. Setting it on the ground, she took a few steps back. "There's a door on the roof. Will take you into a storage room. Disable the security system in there using the code 58634." Pivoting, she ran across the parking lot and disappeared down the road.

"That was extremely suspect," Kurapika said. _I don't trust her one bit. What was she doing? And how did she get a key?_

"Well as long as we're quick, we'll be fine." He scooped up the key.

They found a way onto the roof using a ladder. There was indeed a door there that dropped them into an empty storage room. They disabled the security system using the code she'd given them, then stepped inside of the museum and began exploring.

The Upside Down Museum was something Gon and Killua would probably enjoy given their young age. Frankly, had Kurapika been in a better mood and not attached to someone who resembled the leader of the Ryodan, he might've enjoyed it himself. Leorio too might like it; _I should really call him back..._

"So why are you looking for eyeballs," Kuroro said, peering at an upside down oven in the kitchen section. "If you don't mind me asking."

He pretended to be intently studying a table. "No reason."

"You're helping a total strange regain his memories for no reason?"

Kurapika shot him a look. "You're not a stranger." He hadn't meant to say that out loud. "I mean...you look like someone I know. That's why...that's why I helped you."

"Who is it again?"

"Someone I don't like."

"I'm just wondering because I was carrying one around and if it's something valuable, I should probably sell it or something," he said.

But when Kurapika turned to glower at him, the man grinned at him sheepishly. With a sigh, he turned back to the table. _What are we looking for exactly?_ Something about the Scarlet Eyes. They went into the museum's lobby, where there was an office, thinking that maybe if something like that had been shipped here, it would be noted somewhere. The door to the office unlocked with the key. A desk, chair, and small filing cabinet sat inside. There were stacks of papers on the desk, which Kurapika began looking through while Kuroro peered into the cabinet.

"Read this." Kurapika lifted a piece of paper off the desk and held it in front of his face.

Kuroro came over to him and peered over his shoulder. "Dear Don, the Scarlet Eyes we were supposed to get to ship to West Haven went missing in route two days ago. Call Sarai or Jasper because they were worth big bucks. Rika thinks they were stolen by a man spotted nearby. 08034861903. This is urgent."

Kurapika turned to him. "You think they're talking about you?"

"It sounds like it. Two days ago fits the timeline of when I lost my memory."

 _It does._ And it made perfect sense. He folded the paper and shoved it in a pocket, almost missing the flash of blue and red bouncing off the walls. The two of them went over to the door and peered outside where several cop cars had pulled in front of the museum.

"Looks like someone called the cops on us," Kuroro said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

Kurapika watched the blue and red lights flashing with a mixture of disbelief and anxiety. _Are you kidding me?_ The one time he broke the law _I get caught._ He solemnly swore to never again do something _this impulsive_ for any reason.

Oddly enough, Senritsu came to his mind. There was a reason he'd always gone searching for the Eyes with her. Or did anything with her really. He liked to think of himself as level headed and capable of making rational decisions even in strenuous situations, but occasionally, when his mental faculties momentarily failed, she would be there to remind him that _success is not born from impulsive decisions._

"Should we run?" Kurapika asked.

"Probably not." Kuroro held up the handcuffs. "Uncoordinated running with these isn't a good idea. It was hard enough climbing a ladder and dropping into here without dying. No way we're getting back up like this."

Though his tone was joking, the memory of getting inside the museum was anything but humorous. Something that normally would've taken one minute, took twenty simply because despite seven feet initially appearing like a good amount of distance between the two of them, it really wasn't, especially considering the drop from the roof into the storage room was ten feet.

"What do we do then?" he asked.

"Why do I have to decide? I'm the one who doesn't remember anything."

Kurapika huffed, and then surveyed the small office. _Is there any place to escape?_

"Just an FYI in case you're not paying attention. I'm stepping backwards before the cops come in and see us," Kuroro said.

Kurapika stepped back with him and shut the door. "How about that vent?" he pointed.

Kuroro shook his head once. "Vents are horrible places to escape through."

His brows snapped together. "How do you know that?"

Kuroro shot him a look. "They're too small and they can go up at angles impossible for a person to climb."

The sound of glass shattering reached his ears. Footsteps squeaking along the floor of the museum pattered by the door. Kurapika dropped to the ground. "We have to find somewhere to hide," he whispered.

Kuroro crouched down next to him. "Such as?"

"I don't know!"

"Keep your voice down." Kuroro dark eyes swept across the room. "Can't we fight them off?"

"It's the police." _Although,_ technically he could if he used Nen. _Should I reveal that to Kuroro though?_

"That doesn't answer my question, so let me repeat it. Can't we fight them off?"

"No, I'm not going to get in further trouble by beating up cops." He took another look around him. There was something on the ground next to him that he hadn't noticed before. _A Nen thread?_ He plucked the needle off the ground and traced the thread. It went under the door. "Where did this come from?"

"What?" Kuroro asked.

Kurapika held up the needle. "This."

"A needle?"

 _If he's really just acting, he's sure doing a good job at convincing me._ "Yes this needle…it's important, you wouldn't understand, but we have to figure out a way to get out the door and trace the thread."

Kuroro got to his feet, grabbed the door handle, twisted it, and pushed it open. "Problem solved."

He ground his teeth together, ignoring how his heartbeat was steadily increasing. But when he peered out into the lobby, there was no one there save for two cops lingering by the remains of the door, backs facing them. He glanced down at the Nen thread. The thread went out the door, toward one of the cops. He looked up again. _There's something familiar about that cop…?_

"Freeze!"

Kurapika flinched. Two officers stood above him, guns drawn and pointed at them.

"Hands in the air. Both of you!"

Kurapika stuffed the needle in his pocket and slowly put his hands in the air. He could feel the weight of Kuroro's glare on his back, but the man put his hands in the air too.

The looks on the officer's faces were laughable as they approached them and saw the handcuffs. Kuroro snorted himself and turned his face away, probably to hide his laughter.

"Uh…hands on your heads. Get down on your knees," the officer said.

Kurapika acquiesced, sighing to himself. _How was he going to explain this to…anyone?_

* * *

The attempts of Officer Crowly and Officer Hertz, the cops who'd arrested them, to remove the handcuffs connecting the two of them would have been hilarious under any other circumstances. But their bewilderment didn't make Kurapika feel any better as they sat in the middle of the parking lot, handcuffed awkwardly behind his back as Crowly wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"I don't know what else to try," Crowly said. "And I don't get it."

"That makes four of us," Kuroro quipped.

"Just let em' ride together," Hertz said in a low but not that low voice. "We can find something at the station to separate them."

Crowly stared at the handcuffs with owl-like eyes, then nodded. "We've tried everything though. I mean, I've never seen anything like this before. What the hell are these things made of?"

"Short of cutting our hands off," Kuroro said. "You haven't tried that."

Kurapika turned and glared at him.

"Let's take them in. I'll follow you." Hertz helped Kurapika to his feet, and led him to the back of the squad car. He then lead Kuroro around the other side and told him to get in.

"Officer?" Kuroro said, sitting down.

"What?"

"There's sort of a problem," he said. "With the cuffs. Not the ones you put on us, but the ones even you couldn't get off."

It took him a moment, but Hertz grimaced and helped Kuroro back out the car. Kurapika slid to the other seat as Kuroro got in, grinning. Hertz got in the front seat, started the engine, and drove off.

Kurapika figuratively banged his head against the door. _Gotta be kidding me._ Beside him, Kuroro coughed loudly several times.

Kurapika glanced over at him. "What?" He mouthed.

"Needle."

His brows came together. _How am I gonna get the needle out like this? Especially without making it obvious._ He twisted his body slightly, trying to reach with the tips of his fingers. _It's not gonna work._ He shook his head once, keeping an eye on the officer in the front.

Kuroro shook his head. "Fall." He mouthed. "At the turn."

He glanced out the window. Up ahead, a sharp turn was coming. Trying to escape would just make things worse if they got caught. And whatever plan Kuroro had hatched was surely going to fail. And even with the needle being in the pocket facing, Kuroro, he didn't see how he would get it.

But when the turn came, he fell into Kuroro's lap.

"Hey!" The officer said. The car came to a halt as they veered off the road.

Kurapika jerked himself up, red-faced and too warm. "Sorry."

"What are you two up to back there?"

"Just lost my balance." He grit his teeth and glared at Kuroro. _You better have gotten the needle._

The cop craned his neck to glare back at them with beady eyes, but seemingly finding nothing amiss, he turned back around to the front and continued driving.

Kuroro gave him a cheeky grin. "Stop blushing."

He faced the window. _But what is he planning?_

The car slowed slightly as they approached a red light. Kuroro grabbed his arm, no longer wearing handcuffs. With a pop, his door flew open and he jerked them out onto the ground. His shoulder scraped against the ground painfully, but Kuroro pulled him upright and led him into an alley nearby. They ran for a while, Kuroro somehow maneuvering them through mazes of garbage and curious onlookers until they were seemingly safe.

"How did you do that?" Kurapika asked, trying to catch his breath.

Kuroro ambled behind him. A few seconds later he heard the click of his handcuffs as they fell to the ground. He rubbed his shoulder.

"Let's get out of here before more cops show up," he replied.

Kurapika cracked his wrist. "How did you do that?"

"I stuck part of my hoodie in the door. There's a certain spot you can do so that prevents the door from shutting fully." He held the needle in front of his face. "I just pushed open the door and it opened."

Kurapika took the needle and studied it for a moment. The Nen thread was gone, probably having snapped as they were driving. _Damn it._ "How do you know that?"

"I must have been in the back of a cop car before and escaped." His brows furrowed. "It's weird, but out of the blue I'll remember something random, like that."

They walked down the alley; he listened for the sirens of the cops, or anyone, after them, but _we must've lost them. Great._ Not only had they broken into a museum, but they'd run from the cops too.

"Did we even get anything out of all that?" Kurapika fished around his pocket for the piece of paper from the museum. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"When the cops searched us, they took the paper. With the number on it. And my phone, and the Eyes. And whatever else I had on me except for that needle."

"Okay, relax. We can get it all back."

"How?"

"We find out where Officer…Hertz and Crowly work. It can't be far from here and how many police stations are in a town like this anyway? They probably have some kind of storage area where they keep that stuff in the station."

"How do you know all that?"

"Can you just accept I'm probably a thief and stop asking questions."

He huffed. "Fine. You're a thief. So how do we break into a police station like this without getting caught?" He held up the cuffs.

"I have an idea," he said. "Those chains. What are they for?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not dumb. You have some something I don't have and I know those chains aren't a fashion accessory, so what can they do?"

"They're not-they're chains. What do you think?" _Plus,_ he wasn't going to use his Nen on cops. But when he considered it, it made sense. He had to get the Eyes back, plus the number might lead them to something that could restore Kuroro's memories. If he got himself in deep trouble with the law, he could probably get Light to bail him out anyway, _if the man's in his right senses,_ or pull the Hunter card.

* * *

The Ryu Police Department was small, which was fitting. And it didn't look that imposing or intimidating from the outside.

And while Kurapika was fairly confident in his abilities to execute the plan Kuroro had devised without harming himself, Kuroro, or anyone else, he didn't like it.

"So can we go over the plan one more time?" Kurapika asked.

"We turn ourselves," Kuroro said, wearing a rather impish grin. "Hopefully, while they're taking us to the cells, we can figure out where they're holding our stuff, then you work your magic and break us out, incapacitate the cops, cause a distraction, whatever."

"This is very illegal."

Kuroro sighed. He stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "We don't have to do this. If we wait around long enough doing nothing, whatever cursed us will likely show up at some point, to edge us along."

He shook his head. "No, let's do it."

The two of them shuffled to the doors of the police station.

"We want to turn ourselves in," Kuroro said, his voice booming throughout the small lobby."Uh we broke into the Up and Down Museum or something like that, then we evaded the police that arrested us, which I'm sure also carries some sort of penalty. We didn't assault anyone though, if that makes any difference."

A lady standing in the lobby stared at him blankly.

Five minutes later, they were tucked nicely in a holding cell surrounded by several others, drunkards by the looks of them. _This is ridiculous._ Not only did they likely look ridiculous to the others in the cell, being attached to each other, but this whole plan was stupid.

"So did you see anything?" Kurapika whispered.

"No need to whisper. These guys won't remember anything tomorrow."

Kurapika glowered at him.

"Just trying to lighten the mood. Yes, my bet is that it's in one of the rooms across the hall from us. Before you ask why, it's just a hunch, but I would start there first."

"Alright." He placed his hands on the bars of their cell and peered outside. One cop to his left, but no others. If he could knock him out quietly _somehow_ , maybe they could do this undetected. There was a set of keys hanging from the cop's belt, _typical._

"Just do it."

Kurapika sent his chains towards the man's legs.

"Yo man there's a snake!" One of the inmates said.

The officer looked down, not before his chains wrapped around his foot though. Kurapika pulled; the man's feet went out from under him and he hit his head on the ground with a crack.

"Ouch," Kuroro said, standing next to him.

Kurapika grit his teeth, praying he hadn't hurt the man too badly. He reached between the bars and grabbed the keys. Picking out the right one, he gave it to Kuroro.

"Are you breaking us out?" the same inmate asked.

"Yeah, we are. When we open that door, make a run for it." Kuroro took the keys and unlocked the door to the holding cell. The seven inmates crowded inside hurried out, cheering and leaving behind the scent of liquor and _other things_. "Let's go open the other cell too."

They crossed the hall and opened the adjacent cell, letting them free too.

"Now we have a distraction," Kurapika said, turning towards the hall. He glanced at the fallen cop, _he seems to be breathing. Should I check on him?_ Someone yelled; he heard feet scraping along the floor.

"Across the hall." Kuroro nudged him forward.

They hurried across the hall. There was a conference room that appeared to be empty.

"There are probably cameras here, so we likely have like thirty seconds to get what we need and escape without hurting anyway," Kuroro said, closing and locking the conference room door.

"Alright."

The door across the conference room was locked, but one of the keys opened it. The room was probably an evidence locker room with the way it was lined with boxes and clear plastic bins. "You think it's alphabetical? And that our stuff's here?"

Kuroro was already peering at several boxes. "Probably. I'm in the K section, so hurry over here."

They tore through several boxes and bins, but found nothing. The yells outside the room grew quieter.

"I'll guard the door," Kuroro said.

Kurapika opened up a box. "I found it." He pulled out the two Scarlet Eyes, the paper, and his cell phone.

"Let's go." He opened the door as Kurapika shoved the box back onto the shelf.

"Freeze!" It was Officer Hertz, gun drawn.

It might have been instinctual, or imaginary, but Kurapika blinked and Kuroro had not only disarmed Hertz, but knocked him to the ground. He blinked again. Seemingly unbothered, Kuroro tugged on the chain. He hopped to his feet and they crept over Hertz's prone body. He sent up a prayer for forgiveness and health for both the cops, but he had a promise to keep, to gather the Eyes, and he wasn't going to lose these.

They made their way to the lobby without incident, presumably because most of the officers and other security were busy trying to control the inmates they had freed.

"Have a good night," Kuroro said to the lady in the lobby as they ran by her.

 _Seriously?_ Kurapika refrained from saying anything until they were a considerable distance away from the station.

"We got it," Kuroro said, slowing his pace as they shuffled down the alley. The air smelled like decaying fruit.

"Give me that." He extended his hand toward him.

"What?"

"The gun you took."

"Oh." Kuroro fished it out of his pocket. "You want it?"

"No, we're getting rid of it." He took the weapon, emptied it, and dropped it into a dumpster. The bullets he shoved in his pocket. "So what now?"

"Common sense dictates we get far away from here. I mean, I really doubt anyone's gonna be looking for us that hard considering at worst we'd be charged with trespassing and maybe evading the police, which might actually carry a heavy sentence, but regardless, let's get out of this town." He shoved his hands in his pockets, the handcuff jingling. "We can probably walk….what are you staring at?"

Kurapika held up the cuffs. "Walk away from me. As far as the cuffs will allow."

Kuroro took stepped away from him, down the street. His eyebrows went up. "I see."

It seemed like their handcuffs were getting shorter. Before it had been around seven feet between them, now it looked no longer than six.

His phone buzzed. Fishing it out his pocket, he looked at it.

 _Senritsu._


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:** Try not to bog the story down with author's notes cause I'm not sure if they're annoying or not, but thanks to anyone who left a review. I seriously appreciate them.

* * *

 **Eight**

Kurapika's finger hovered over the green button on his phone as he stood in the alley. _Should I answer?_ But why wouldn't he?

 _I can think of several reasons, actually._

"You want me to get that for you?" Kuroro was hovering just over his shoulder.

He answered it. "Hello?"

"You answered." There was an odd note of relief in her voice. _What is she so worried about?_ "How are you? How's your search going?" Senritsu asked.

"Uh well enough I suppose."

"That's good." She sighed, sounding out of breath on the other line, like she'd just run a marathon. "I was worried."

"Why…did you hear something about me?" Images of his face appearing on the 11:00 o'clock news flashed through his mind. His heart nearly sunk at the thought. He was already a criminal _perhaps_ , but not the kind that broke into museums and evaded the police.

"No, I was just thinking about you is all." She inhaled sharply. "How things are going since you're on your own and all."

"Is that your girlfriend?" Kuroro asked.

"No," he said. "Uh—I mean sorry. I'm with a friend."

"Who was that?" Senritsu asked. There was a note of suspicion in her voice.

"I this man I met while uh…scouting out the museum."

"This man? Are you alright?"

 _I hope she didn't recognize his voice._ He put as much distance between himself and a befuddled looking Kuroro, which was _less than seven feet,_ all the while assuring Senritsu that he was fine. Then he feigned as if the call was breaking up, promised to call her back soon, and hung up.

"So was that your girlfriend?" Kuroro came over to stand next to him. There was a large dumpster just behind them, _smells almost as bad as I do._

"No. Just a friend." Kurapika stuck the phone in his pocket.

"I've heard that one before." He frowned. "Probably."

He refrained from rolling his eyes. "Let's check out this lead from the note."

"Now?"

"Yeah, we're fugitives. We don't exactly have a lot of time to mosey around." He stepped away from the dumpster and listened for the sound of anyone nearby.

"Hardly. We trespassed, we didn't even steal anything. It's likely they would've let us out the next day."

"You couldn't have said that earlier? Plus we broke out of a cop car and stole evidence. Probably tampered with evidence too."

"Well, we still would've had to steal our stuff back whether we spent the night there or not. If those Eyes are worth anything, we weren't going to get them back," Kuroro replied.

Kurapika fumbled around his pocket for the note. "For someone who has no memory, you sure know a lot things."

He tapped the side of his head with his middle finger three times. "Instinct."

"Whatever," he replied, finally fishing the note out of his pocket. He dialed the number, putting it on speaker phone.

 _"_ _Hello, you have reached Departure Shipping Company, here for all your shipping needs. We are not open at this time. Our hours of operation are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday_." Kurapika hung up. "Departure Shipping Company ring a bell?"

Kuroro's brows snapped together. He placed his hand on his chin and rubbed his stubble gently. "Actually…"

"What?"

He smirked. "I'm just kidding. No, it doesn't ring a bell. Never heard the name before."

Kurapika shot him a dour look. "That's not funny." He looked up Departure Shipping Company, but got no results. But then he thought to try the Hunter's website. _Bingo._ Apparently, Departure specialized in shipping rare and expensive items on the down low, _including people_. They had offices all over the world, but there was only one where a Sachiko Jasper worked and it wasn't far from the police station they had just escaped from.

"Well, it's a start. The letter did say to call Jasper…or someone else, at this number," Kurapika said.

"Let's just go there."

"We're supposed to be skipping town though. You know, to not get caught."

"Well what do you want to do then?"

"Fine. Let's go. But we go tonight."

* * *

Departure Shipping Company's was nestled inside a small insurance company building. And Kurapika checked the address twice, because nowhere did he even see the word Shipping anywhere near the place. Kuroro suggested they break in, but that seemed stupid considering the sun was already rising by the time they got there and someone would be there in a couple of hours to open up. So instead they waited next to a homeless man on the side of the road. _At least he's sleeping._

"It's eight," Kuroro said.

"What?"

"Did you fall asleep?"

He rubbed his eyes wearily. "No, I'm awake."

The man's dark eyebrows went up. "Alright."

They lingered on the sidewalk, keeping an ear and eye out for any cops, and for anyone coming in. A young woman came up to the building and opened the door to the insurance company, but even after an hour, no one came in after her.

"Jasper could be a woman's name," Kuroro said. "We should go in and ask."

"This place doesn't even have sign. I doubt they want people going in and asking."

"No, that's exactly what they want people to do. Places like this likely are spread by word of mouth."

 _Makes sense_ and he couldn't argue otherwise, since he really had no clue _._ They went inside. And it was only when he stepped onto the plush, tan carpet that lined the pristine lobby of the insurance company that he realized how awful he looked and smelled. Comparing himself to a dumpster had been overly generous. He was closer to the trash inside the dumpster.

Kuroro waved at the receptionist, who stared comically at the chains connecting them.

"We're looking for Jasper," he said. "Sachiko Jasper."

The lady blinked. "Name?"

"Don. This is Rika."

"Oh…last name?"

"Does it matter? I need to see Jasper now. Tell him it's about the Eyes."

Kurapika somehow managed to not go slack-jawed, _but why do I have to be the woman. Though,_ to be fair, Rika could be a man's name He kept his mouth shut though, unsure of what exactly Kuroro was planning.

The receptionist's eyes widened, but she picked up the phone and dialed someone. After a few hushed words, she hung up and directed them to an elevator. "Go down to the B level."

Kuroro led them to the elevator. They got inside and hit the button for level B.

Kurapika turned towards him. "Don and Rika?"

"It's the name of the people from the note."

"Yeah, but it's not us. Jasper probably knows who Don and Rika are."

He shrugged. "So? We need to talk to Jasper. If he's interested in the Eyes…speaking of which, give them to me."

"Why?" But he pulled them out of his pocket anyway.

"Damn it. Never mind. We should've hidden them before we walked in here. This place is probably loaded with cameras…look, stuff them down your underwear or somewhere that if we get body searched, they won't seem to be on us."

The elevator dinged. "Why?"

"Trust me. And the note, hide the note too."

Kurapika's face warmed, and while he didn't see the point, he did manage to hide them somewhere he felt they wouldn't be found easily.

There was a woman and man dressed in suits standing at the elevator door. The man started when he saw the handcuffs between them, but he seemed to get a hold of himself, for a stoic expression fell on his face quickly. "Do you have any weapons on you?" he asked.

"Nope. Feel free to check." Kuroro held up his hands. "Don't get too handsy with my girl though."

The man nodded to the woman, who stepped over to Kurapika. "Put your hands on your head. We're gonna pat you down," she said.

The woman extracted Kurapika's wallet and phone. She opened the wallet and looked through the contents swiftly, before giving them both back to him.

"You don't have any ID on you?" The man looked at Kuroro.

"It's a safety thing," he replied. "Now Jasper."

"Down the hall. First door on the right. You got ten minutes, then we're bringing you out."

"Well, you're wasting my time, aren't you?"

Kurapika resisted the urge to slap him. _Seriously, what is wrong with you?_ The male bodyguard moved out of the way, a slight grimace marring his face. They went down the hall to the first door on the right. Kuroro opened it.

Jasper was not a woman, but he did look like the sort of person who would run a seedy shipping company, pinstriped purple suit and all.

"Don MacDonald," Jasper said, his voice low and raspy as he got to his feet. He straightened his violet tie and stepped around his huge, mahogany desk. "Son-of-a-bitch. You seem to be aging backwards."

Kuroro smirked. "Well, that's probably because I'm not Don."

Jasper grinned and shook his head. With a sigh, he went back behind his desk, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a handgun. He sat it on the table. "You know when you stepped a bit closer, I was gonna shoot you, but I think I like you. You and your lady, have a seat. You look like you've had a rough time getting here." He seemed to notice the cuffs between them then as they went to sit.

Kurapika swallowed hard. This was a ridiculous plan. Whatever it was. Neither of them even knew what exactly they were here for. _And I am not a lady,_ but pointing that out now seemed pointless. Regardless, he was certain this was a bad plan that would end with one of them getting shot.

"So you know something about the Eyes that went missing the other day?" Jasper asked.

"Possibly." Kuroro folded his hands onto the desk and leaned forward. "What do you know about the missing Eyes?"

"Don't press you luck, kid." Jasper's eyebrows went up. "I assume you know they were stolen from one of my trucks two days before reaching their destination."

"West Haven?" Kurapika said. "Although they were first supposed to go to the Upside Down museum before being shipped there."

"Yes. But I'm sure you know it wasn't for a hospital." Jasper leaned back against his overstuffed chair. His thin eyebrows rose impossibly high.

"Right…it was for Sarai. The owner of the museum," Kuroro said. Kurapika tried not to look at him. _How do you know?_

Jasper clicked his tongue. "Yes, my wife owns that museum. And the hospital. She likes to collect pretty things and they were a birthday gift for her. I'm real disappointed they were lost."

Kurapika bristled at that, but he held his tongue. _Just let Kuroro talk._ If he said anything, it would one-hundred percent get them both in trouble, and likely wouldn't result with them getting out of here alive. _Still,_ he couldn't understand how anyone could view the eyes of his dead clan as simply _pretty things._

But something wasn't right. _Does Jasper recognize Kuroro?_ It was hard to tell with the way the man's eyes stared at him. _Does Kuroro think Jasper recognizes him? Damn, I wish he'd let me in on this plan before we got here._ Although, it seemed more that Kuroro was making things up on the fly, than anything thought-out.

"Well, maybe you can have them back." Kuroro said. "I'd like to say, I know a guy, who knows a guy, but I'll just be honest and say I have them."

"But not with you, I assume?" Jasper said.

"Maybe I do? I mean, I'm a good liar, but my friend here isn't. Maybe you should ask…her."

Kurapika bit down on his lip. He felt Kuroro give his leg a nudge with the end of his foot though and he tried to appear more relaxed.

"Are the Eyes on you?" Jasper asked.

There was no point in lying. "Yes, they are."

Jasper burst out laughing, so hard the pens on his desk shook. "Okay, okay, you played me kid. Look, I'll let you both walk out here alive, if you promise to give me those Scarlet Eyes by tomorrow."

"But you don't even know what we want," Kuroro said.

"Your lives not enough?"

"I could pretend it is, but then I wouldn't come back tomorrow with the Eyes, would I?."

"Alright, what do you want? Money? I'll pay you each twice the price of those Eyes." He smiled softly, his eyes drifting down to a picture on his desk. "Anything to keep the missus happy."

Kurapika shook his head. "We want the name of the person you brought them from. And I want all the information you have on the person who stole them from you," he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kuroro smirk a little.

"The first I can give you, the latter you'll have to discuss with Tyrius, the one you got my contact information from to begin with, or Rika, because I know the real Rika's not nearly as good looking as this lovely lady here." He motioned to Kurapika and placed his hands on the desk. "Tomorrow. 11:30 pm sharp. Not a minute later. Come through the back door in the alley. Someone will be there to open the door."

Kuroro stood up. "Alright."

Jasper's eyes went to the handcuffs between them. "By the way, what's going on with that?"

"I don't want her to get lost," Kuroro said, wearing a serious enough expression that had he not know the truth, even Kurapika might have believed him.

But Jasper only chuckled. "If whatever you're doing doesn't work out for you, do come work for me. And bring your girlfriend too."

* * *

Kurapika actually did punch Kuroro once they were outside of the building. Hard. On the shoulder. "Are you crazy? We could've been killed in there!"

"It was a risk worth taking." He rubbed his shoulder. "Sheesh."

"How did you know Sarai owned the building?"

"Unlike you, I was actually looking around the office at the museum. Her name was listed on some documents. I took a guess, honestly, but it was an educated one." He shoved his free hand in his pocket. "But we have enough info to skip town now, which we need to do if we don't want Jasper to murder us for not showing up tomorrow. Rika or Tyrius can tell us who sold Jasper the Eyes…" A frown crossed his face and he looked down at him, eyes narrowed slightly.

"What?" Kurapika asked.

"…Nothing." He looked back up. They continued on down the street, making their way to the nearest train station, Kurapika brought them tickets using cash, and they boarded. The plan was to stay out of town for a week at least, long enough for Jasper to assume they'd gotten pretty far away. He'd no doubt warn Rika and Tyrius, but that would just make locating them easier, _according to Kuroro at least._ Plus, they mostly just needed to get a description of the person who stole the Eyes from them. If it matched Kuroro's appearance, then it probably meant he was involved with them in some way, or at least had inside knowledge somehow about the Eyes. _Still,_ that might not lead them to anything.

"Oh I remembered something," Kuroro said, from the seat next to him.

"What?"

"I remember being somewhere hot. Like a desert. Smoldering actually."

"When?"

"Before I lost my memory, since I haven't been to any desert with you. Although it might just be a dream and not a memory."

Kurapika gave him a look. "I mean when did you remember it?"

"I fell asleep when we were sitting next to that homeless man this morning. I had this weird dream, I was wearing like a fur coat, but I was in the middle of this desert."

Kurapika's eyes narrowed. "That's…weird. I guess if this doesn't pan out, we can look at deserts near this place and see if anyone saw you there."

"Sounds like a bad plan." Kuroro leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes. It was an eight-hour ride to a small town Kuroro assured them would be safe enough to hide out in for a while. At some point, while he was lost in his thoughts about what a terrible situation he'd gotten himself into, he must have drifted off to sleep because he awoke to the sound of the train whistling, followed by an announcement that it was time to get off.

They stepped into the train station. Kurapika had looked up a few places they could stay and headed for the stairwell leading out of the station.

"You know I was just thinking about something," Kuroro said, grabbing his arm. "Can I see your wallet for a minute?"

"Don't steal anything." He pulled it out and handed it to him.

Kuroro opened it. "We should probably think about getting some new clothes actually. Well you since your clothes in particular are—"

"Well if it isn't Tweedledum and Tweedledum." A raspy voice said behind them.

Kurapika's turned around to see Sachiko Jasper accompanied by the two bodyguards from earlier, plus three more. _How did they find us here?_

Kuroro pulled a small, round silver object out of Kurapika's wallet. "I knew I should've checked before we left."

Kurapika stared at what he could only assume was a very, fancy coin. "What is that?"

"A tracking device." He tossed it on the floor and crushed it under his shoe.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** I uploaded this last week but apparently there was some sort of glitch that didn't send out notifications. TT

* * *

 **Nine**

 _Tracking device?_

But Kurapika didn't have much time to think on it, since Jasper was only a few feet away from them and wearing a scowl deep enough to sink in.

 _And how did Kuroro even know about the tracking device?_ He shot the man a wary look, before scanning the area around him. To his right stood the stairwell, to his left the railways. But there was no easy escape route, at least without attracting too much attention. They could rush up the stairs, but uncoordinated running while chained together wasn't a good idea. And he had no idea where to run anyway, because even the name of the town had escaped him already.

"That didn't work," Kurapika said in a low voice as Jasper approached. "Should we run?"

"If you want." Kuroro shrugged. "I mean, it's not the worst thing to be caught by him."

"Are you joking, because you kind of sound like you're joking," he replied.

The taller man glanced down at him with a look that told him _no, he's not joking_. "All we have to do is give him the Eyes," Kuroro said.

"Which I'm not doing," he hissed.

"You two seem to be having a nice conversation and I hate to interrupt it," Jasper said, grinning comically widely as he stood in front of them. "But we sort of had a deal, which you reneged on by skipping town."

"Maybe we're going to get the Scarlet Eyes for you," Kuroro said, with so little earnestness, Kurapika wondered if he was even trying to lie.

Jasper chuckled lightly. "Nah, I've dealt with your types before. You're skipping town now that you got what you needed. Look, I get it, I really do." He put his hands in the air. "You two are smart, but not that smart. I'm not even mad, because I would have done the same thing. It's why I had my girl put that tracker in your wallet. Smooth of you to make your girl carry it around for you."

"So what do you want?" Kurapika asked. The train station wasn't overly crowded. They drew a few curious glances, but to anyone passing they might've just looked like friends catching up albeit _in a tense manner_. _If it empties out a little more maybe we can get away…_ But he couldn't really do anything unexpected because he was chained to another person.

"I want the Eyes. Either now or in the next hour," Jasper said, his smile gone.

"Sure thing," Kuroro said. "We'll give them to you."

"No, we won't," Kurapika said. "I'm not giving them to you."

Jasper shook his head and let out a low whistle. He nudged one of his guards next to him with his elbow. "You two need to talk things over?"

Kuroro nodded and grabbed Kurapika's arm. The train blared, another one pulling slowly into the station. Jasper glanced at it momentarily, before giving a nod. Kuroro stepped off to the side, still in view of Jasper, but hopefully out of earshot, and he pulled Kurapika along with him.

Kuroro grimaced. "Give him the eyes."

"No."

"We'll get them back. I'll get them back for you myself, but the only way we're going to avoid some kind of confrontation is to give them up," he said. "Now, I don't mind confrontation, but this guy is too smug. He must know something or…he can use…" His frown deepened slightly.

His own eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Use what?"

"I don't know. It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember." Kuroro shook his head once. He lowered his voice. "Regardless, we can either give them up or lie and say we don't have them, which means coming up with a plan on the fly, because we actually do have them and he seems like the type to strip search us"

And that was how they ended up in the backseat of Jasper's van, having lied about not having the Eyes on them. Jasper seemed to believe them, because a simple check of their clothes would've revealed one of them to be hidden under Kuroro's jacket and the other in Kurapika's pocket. Maybe Kurapika was being stupid, _but I'm not giving up the Eyes._

Kuroro had managed to at least partially convince Jasper and the three men that came with him that they were indeed headed to where they had hidden the Eyes, but admittedly not to hand them over to Jasper. There was something a bit odd about Jasper's smugness, but at the moment Kurapika didn't really care.

He was more interested in the tiny thread clinging to the edge of the man's suit jacket. He tried not to stare too intently, _but is that a needle?_ One of the Spiders had used similar needles to keep track of _whatever his name was_ that he'd killed. Not that it was impossible for someone else to use similar needles, _but…_

"Are you two listening?" Jasper was craning his neck to glare at them from the front seat.

"Yeah, we'll give you the Eyes," Kuroro said. "I'll give you the directions to where we hid them."

* * *

The location of the Scarlet Eyes was an abandoned warehouse, which seemed odd both in that Kuroro had somehow given Jasper directions to a place that actually existed, and that he had picked an old warehouse of all places for their deception. _Though_ in all likelihood, Kuroro had probably made up directions, simply hoping it would lead them somewhere.

Jasper's face scrunched up like a paper bag as he studied the warehouse from the front seat. "Alright, I don't know what sort of bdsm you guys are into, not judging here, but we gotta remove those," Jasper said. "One of you will go inside with my two men here and get them, and the other will stay out here with me."

Kuroro held out his chained hand. "Good luck."

Forty-five minutes later, Jasper's men had come no closer to breaking the handcuffs than anyone else had. Their attempts, and ensuing frustration, was almost humorous, but still Kurapika could find nothing funny about being chained to another person.

"What are those?" one of the bodyguards asked, sweat running down his face as he set a pair of pliers on the ground.

Kurapika shrugged. He was tired of sitting in the middle of a hot parking lot though. "They're handcuffs."

"But why the hell won't they come off?"

"I have no idea," Kurapika said. "We've tried to get them off, they won't come off. Others have tried as well. So can we just get the…Eyes and go?"

Jasper huffed, but he nodded. "Well at least you two can't run off." He spun around.

 _You're right about that._ Kurapika got to his feet. He tried to catch Kuroro's attention, because now was as good a time as any to get rid of Jasper and his men, but he was looking elsewhere.

There were three of them total and Jasper. _Can I take them on?_ He didn't think any of them could use Nen, _but_ …either way he needed to do something, because there wasn't anything in the warehouse. But again, the issue was _these damn handcuffs._ If he did something too unexpectedly, he'd trip himself up, or trip into Kuroro, or make Kuroro trip into him. Plus, the chain seemed to have grown shorter.

They made their way towards a side door to the warehouse. The guard reached for the door's handle. Kurapika swung his chain at it, wrapped it around the handle, and pulled. The door swung open so fast it slammed into the face of the bodyguard, who fell back into the other and knocked her to the ground. The back of her head hit the asphalt with a crack.

Jasper let out a yell and tripped, banging his head against the door. One of his men jumped towards him, arms outstretched as if to catch him, but Kurapika threw his chain at him and tripped him. He fell on the ground and hit his head on a large rock.

Kuroro crouched down and began rummaging around Jasper's pockets. He fished out some keys. "Nicely done. Though that looked like a whole lot of luck."

"It was." Kurapika knelt down, plucked the needle out of Jasper's jacket, and held it up. _The string goes nowhere._ Sticking it in his pocket, he got back into the van, then had to get back out. Kurapika got into the driver's seat and crawled over to the passenger's seat. Kuroro got in and started the car.

"We're one step closer to not knowing anything," Kurapika said.

"We can still contact Rika or Tyrius." He pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the road.

"And?"

"Talk to them, I guess," he said. Though the look on his face said he didn't think it would do much good either.

* * *

Rika was fairly easy to locate, being in charge of shipping at Departure Shipping Company. She was a rotund woman whose primary job seemed to be signing the papers that came to her desk. A desk which was located in her house and was visible clearly from the street via a large window. There was no visible security anywhere around the house, which either meant she was secretly harboring some sort of skills, or she just didn't feel the need for any security.

But she didn't look surprised when they knocked on her door.

"Jasper told me you'd be coming. I got the video and anything else you might need." She waved them inside, then turned on her heels and clicked down the hall.

"Right," Kuroro said, striding inside. They followed her into her office, where she picked up a small USB drive and handed it to them.

"It's got the footage from the theft, plus all the documentation I had on the Scarlet Eyes, as in who's hands they passed through. As for me, I don't know much other than they were being shipped from Yorknew City by us. The man on this video stole them, that's really all I know," she said.

Kurapika exchanged glances with Kuroro, before taking the USB. "Thanks?"

She waved them off just as the phone on her desk buzzed angrily and she picked it up. A grimace crossed her face as she answered. "Hello?"

Kurapika very clearly heard Jasper's angry voice yelling on the other end of the line. He took a few steps back, then gave Kuroro a nudge. The taller man nodded, and they turned and hurried to the van.

"So I'm guessing that Jasper didn't wake up until just now." Kuroro started the engine and whipped down the street. "And I guess he never got a chance to warn Rika about us skipping town."

Kurapika glanced in the rear-view mirror to see Rika coming out of her door, red-faced. "Awfully convenient for us I guess, but I'm not complaining." He held the USB drive up in front of his face. "How should we watch this?"

"Library. There's probably one downtown somewhere."

* * *

They watched the video at a library after printing out the documents stored on the USB drive. The video was grainy, clearly emanating from a very distant security camera, but they could make out who was on it.

"That's not me," Kuroro said, grimly.

"No, it's not." In fact it was hard to tell who it was, with the graininess of the video and the fact that the person was masked. But it was definitely not Kuroro. _Not tall enough for sure. Too skinny as well._

Kuroro jerked the drive out and tossed it in the trash nearby. "Probably has a tracking device on it. So does the car. We'll leave it here, go out the side door. I saw an Inn not far from here. Not the best place to hide out, but we can't be walking around during the daytime with both Jasper and possibly the police looking for us."

Kurapika agreed, then followed him outside into the afternoon light. They rented a small room out of the Inn, which reminded him he was actually running low on funds. Light paid pretty well, but most of his money was in savings, which he didn't have access to at the moment. _Means I'll have to call Senritsu and ask for her help._ She'd want to know why he couldn't just get his money himself.

"That was a bust," Kurapika said, sourly as he paced around the small room. They hadn't looked at the documents yet, but it hardly mattered. An idea popped in his head, but he pushed it aside.

"Maybe I didn't steal those Eyes. Maybe I stole them from the person who stole them first." Kuroro sat on the edge of the bed. "But you're right, we didn't find out anything."

"Well…we could go to the source," he was mostly talking to himself now. There was actually a fairly easy way for them to possibly regain Kuroro's memories. But it meant first determining if Kuroro really was Kuroro or not.

"Which is?"

 _Should I tell him this?_ At this point, if this was the real Kuroro Lucifer pretending to have lost his memories, he was doing a damn good job at fooling him. It was entirely possible this was all some ruse to kill him. But frankly he wasn't worth that much effort. Kuroro could, and almost certainly already had, gotten his Nen back some other way, so there would be no reason to chase Kurapika down other than vengeance, but that too just didn't seem like something Kuroro could be bothered to do. Kurapika himself hadn't even been bothered much looking for the Troupe, so much as looking for the rest of the Scarlet Eyes.

So that meant that either this wasn't Kuroro Lucifer at all, but some poor man that looked eerily similar to him. Or it really was him and somehow he'd lost his memories. If it really was him, well Kurapika could take him to the Troupe because they at least should know what their leader had been up to and what he could have possibly been doing to lose his memories, _but to hell with that._ Even if it was Kuroro, there'd be no way he would go to the Troupe.

"If you are who I think you are, then there's a really easy way to determine it," Kurapika said. "Do you have a tattoo of a Spider with number on it somewhere on your body?"

"...Not sure."

"How are you not sure?"

"I've been in these clothes since I woke up without my memories." He tugged on his shirt. "Haven't taken a shower in a while too, which I'm sure you've noted."

He wrinkled his nose. "Well, we can check but you have to take your clothes off."

Kuroro's eyebrows went up in amusement. "Didn't think you swung that way, but alright."

Kurapika had to stop his eyes from rolling out of his head. With every word that came out of the man's mouth, he became less and less convinced that this could possibly be the infamous leader of the Phantom Troupe. Not that he could boast having known Kuroro overly well before, but this man was nothing like him. "I'm not interested in you in any way, shape, or form." Kurapika said. "Not now and not at any point in the future, will I be interested in you."

"I'm kidding. Look, I'll check but—" He held up his hands. "Who is Kuroro Lucifer?"

"You don't want to know," he replied. His heart rate increased suddenly, and he had to sit down on the bed. "I hate him. But he…probably hates me just as much too."

"Really? You seem pretty nice," he replied.

 _So do you._ And that was the problem. Kurapika didn't mind him, _whoever he is_ , and he would never forgive himself for mistakenly befriending the man who'd murdered his clan.

"I killed your friend in retribution for you…killing mine." Kurapika looked down at his hands, and let out a sigh. Not a lie, but not the truth either.

Kuroro placed a hand on his chin. He looked to be in deep thought for a moment, before he shook his head. "Why did we kill each other's friends?"

"It doesn't really matter," Kurapika said. "Go look."

"The chain's getting shorter, it's like five feet now."

"I noticed. I'll stand by the door."

Kuroro went inside and partially shut the bathroom door. The shower came on a few minutes later and Kurapika pressed his back against the wall. There was really no comfortable position he could wait in.

He had thought of it before, _an easy way to confirm whether or not Kuroro is a member of the Troup_ e, but he almost didn't want to confirm what he already sort of knew. _Somewhere on his body, he'll have a tattoo_ and then what would he do? He certainly wasn't going to kill him and wind up chained to a corpse for the rest of his life, and there was no satisfaction in killing someone who hadn't the slightest idea why they were being killed either.

He had already seen Kuroro's arms and hands, which limited his prospects to somewhere more concealed for the tattoo. _But he doesn't have the cross on his forehead, does he?_ For some reason, Kurapika couldn't remember. The taller man's messy hair was always concealing part of his face. _Or does he have something tied around his forehead?_

His face grew hot at the thought of what he was about to do, but he didn't dwell on it for too long before he peered through the door's crack. The shower stopped after a few minutes and the taller man stepped out, glistening with water, and still partially dressed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

Kurapika's ringtone sounded throughout the small room, distracting him from the bathroom. The song, if it could even be called that, was something Senritsu had played on her flute and recorded for him some time ago, mostly because her melodies soothed him.

He jumped away from the bathroom door, wondering why he hadn't brought her along with him. Granted, his circumstances were unusual and would provoke the temper of even the calmest individuals, but he was certain he wouldn't feel half this agitated if she was by his side, playing her flute.

Even now, the whimsical tune filled him with relief as he hurried for the bed.

The bathroom door flew open, banging against the wall, and reminding him of the forgotten handcuffs connecting him to possibly his worst enemy. Kuroro jumped out, a towel wrapped around his waist, and a scowl plastered across his face. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Sorry! I forgot about them." He motioned towards his phone, which was lying on the edge of the bed.

Kuroro shook his head. "At least warn me before you go running off."

"Yeah, sorry." He swiped the phone off the edge of the bed and answered it, making his way back to the door so Kuroro could go back inside. "Hello?"

"Kurapika!"

"Leorio?"

"Yeah! Gosh, I really didn't think you'd pick up, man!" The man's annoying cheer radiated even through the phone. "I've been texting you and stuff, and calling you like weekly, and seriously where have you been? Even Senritsu said she couldn't reach you and I haven't heard from you in ages."

He cleared his throat, thinking on his next words carefully. _Ignoring you_ didn't seem like a good answer. "Well…I talked to Senritsu the other day."

"You talked to Senritsu?" There was a note of confusion in Leorio's voice.

"Yes. Yesterday or the day before," Kurapika replied.

Kuroro came out of the bathroom, dripping water all over the carpet. _Can't he dry himself properly?_ "Who is that?" he asked.

"Who is that?" Leorio echoed

 _"_ No one!" Kurapika inhaled sharply. "It's just…room service." He waved Kuroro away. The taller man shook his head, but sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window.

"Room service? You at a hotel? Senritsu said you left your job, but I thought she was kidding," Leorio said.

He rubbed his forehead. "I have a lead on the Scarlet Eyes, so I didn't leave permanently." Which he actually wasn't too sure about. "It was nice talking with you, but I really have to go."

"Wait but—"

He hung up and sat opposite to Kuroro on the bed. And while he felt a tinge of regret at his actions, it wasn't strong enough to for him to pick up the phone and call the man back. He liked Leorio and didn't want to lie to him.

Kuroro stared at him, one eyebrow raised.

"So did you see a tattoo?" Kurapika asked, though he was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Yeah. Near my hip bone…It's got the number thirty-three on it."

 _Thirty-three?_ "...What?"

A slow smile spread across the taller man's face. "I'm kidding. No, no tattoo."

"You sure?" His brows snapped together.

Kuroro spread his arms apart. "You're free to check if you want, but I'm sure."

"I'm good," he said. "But that means you're not Kuroro Lucifer?"

The man gave a tiny shrug. "Guess not." His eyes darted to the window and he folded his hands onto his lap. "Maybe that's for the better though."

Kurapika fell back on the bed and pinched his nose. _It really isn't him?_ Maybe the tattoo had been removed? Maybe it was someplace he couldn't see? Another glance at Kuroro and he was sure the man wasn't lying, but too many thoughts swarmed into his head at once, so he decided to shower before the handcuffs made it impossible.

"So I ran into an issue, which is I can't take my shirt off," Kuroro said, standing in the bathroom's door frame. He white tee shirt was sopping wet, making his jeans damp too. "I thought about ripping it, but I don't have another shirt."

"Oh," Kurapika said. "Well..." That was an issue, one Kurapika himself would have. He looked down at his own clothes, glad at least he'd changed into jeans and a t-shirt before leaving the Nostrad's.

"I'm just warning you, so you aren't like me: mad that you can't shower properly," he said, stepping back and shutting the door.

 _Great._

The shower's water was cold against his skin. He felt like they'd done a whole lot of nothing, ran into trouble with the law for no reason, and still had no clue as to Kuroro's real identity _and we're no closer to finding out_. His chest tightened and he wanted nothing more than to cut his arm off and be done with it. _Not a bad idea,_ but even doing that likely wouldn't work.

He tried to think of something, _anything_ else that could lead him to Kuroro's memories as he rubbed a towel through his damp hair. _Was I chasing the wrong lead?_ That the Scarlet Eyes had something to do with Kuroro's memories was only an assumption, a logical one he had thought, _but still an assumption._

"You know it is kind of strange…" Kuroro said, poking his head through the bathroom door. "I mean, granted, going to that museum was a stretch but really what are the chances that a place called the Up and Down Museum or whatever it is, would have a pair of Scarlet Eyes stolen from them?"

"I'm getting dressed."

"No, you are dressed. And you've been in the bathroom forty minutes compared to my five."

"Alright. Sorry. What about the museum?" He ambled out of the bathroom and went to the bed, Kuroro close behind him. "Also, I think it was the Upside Down Museum."

Kuroro sat on the bed next to him."This has the appearance of a dead lead, but I think we're supposed to think that. It was a riddle that got us chained together, so if all this, with Jasper and what not, is connected to my memories somehow, then it's got to be a riddle of some kind. We just have to figure it out."

"Easier said than done," Kurapika replied. "It's possible the ones stolen from Jasper weren't the ones in your possession, or the one the old man gave us." Though that seemed highly unlikely. The Eyes were few and far between; Kurapika had been searching for them for years and he'd never found two pairs in such close proximity to one another. "What did that old man look like anyway?"

"What old man?"

"The one who put these on us." He held up the handcuffs.

"Oh. Overalls? Here's a theory though, what if he stole the Eyes, then I stole them from him?" Kuroro said.

"He wasn't the man in the video."

"Shapeshifter?"

He gave him a look. Kuroro couldn't possibly be serious; _he doesn't know anything about Nen. Does he?_

"Well, we have two options," Kuroro said. "Beat our heads against the wall and hope we come up with something, or go drinking tonight?"

"What good will drinking do?"

"The riddler clearly likes games, he's probably watching us, or at least close by most of the time. If we don't do anything for a bit, he'll do something to draw us out, get us playing again. It's what I would do at least. It'd be boring screwing with someone who's…unbothered."

He wrinkled his nose. "Maybe."

"Okay, then we beat our heads against the wall. What about the needles?"

"What about them? Only one of them led us to the old man. The others were mostly randomly placed on things." He thought back to the police officer at the museum. _Didn't one of the needles lead to one of them?_

"Red herrings," Kuroro replied.

"I guess."

"You're awfully forthcoming," he said, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He scooted closer to him. "Are you disappointed I'm not who you think I am?"

He shook his head. "No, just this would be easier if you were who I thought you were."

"The Phantom Troupe?"

He turned to stare at him. "How do you know about them?"

"You're phone doesn't have a password on it." He grinned as he handed it to him. "Wasn't that hard to find information on a Kuroro Lucifer."

Kurapika scowled and snatched it from him. His mood was not completely the result of Kuroro not in fact being Kuroro, or maybe it was. _Whatever._ It didn't matter.

"So bar," Kuroro said.

"I don't drink."

"Don't drink or never have?"

He wrinkled his nose, giving away the answer. He wasn't interested in drinking, and had never been. "You really want to go drinking like this?" Kurapika raised his arm. "Plus you're an amnesiac, drinking will probably make it worst."

"It doesn't bother me, plus it's late at night. All sorts of weird folks come out late at night. We'll fit right in."

* * *

Kurapika shook his head. But Kuroro kept insisting and when it got late into the night, they checked out of the Inn, then found a bar. Kurapika made several unsuccessful attempts to hide the chains when they arrived, first behind his back, then sort of under his shirt, before forgoing the idea entirely.

"If you get drunk enough, you'll forget about them. And it looks more obvious when you try to conceal them," Kuroro said, flagging down the bartender, an overweight man who seemed unusually jolly given the late hour and the fact that his patronage was primarily drunkards. Though despite the late hour, people were scarce and the bar sat mostly empty.

"What's on the rocks mean?" Kurapika asked after Kuroro had ordered something.

"With ice."

"Why don't they just call it with ice then?"

Kuroro shrugged. "I don't know."

Kurapika placed his elbows on the table, wondering if he could get away with taking a nap _right here and now_. The excitement of the last several hours hadn't exhausted him, but he didn't exactly feel alert either.

"You got your girlfriend on ball and chain, literally." Someone sat in the bar stool next to him, and placed a half-empty bottle in front of him.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Kurapika said, with more ire than he actually possessed.

"…Wife? Or did you two just meet?" the man asked. "Sorry, I'm being an ass. I'm Thomas."

"Yeah, you are." Kuroro grinned at him, though he looked anything but friendly.

The man's blonde eyebrows went up. "I'm Thomas or I'm an ass?"

"Both?"

Kurapika had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at them. He gave Kuroro a nudge with his foot. "We can't get these handcuffs off so we're stuck with each other," Kurapika said.

Thomas' brows came together for a moment as he looked at them, then he broke out into a wide grin. "Well, in that case, let me buy you a drink?"

"He's good," Kuroro said.

Kurapika kicked him again. _Don't answer for me._

Thomas lurched forward slightly and it was then Kurapika realized the man had alcohol coming out of his ears. He'd never spent much time around drunkards, because he rarely drunk himself, and more

"He?" The man frowned, before breaking out into a grin. "Eh, I'll still get you a drink," Thomas said, wrapping his arm around Kurapika's shoulders. "Hey, I got a riddle for you. When you don't know what I am, I am something, but when you do know what I am, I am nothing. What am-?"

Whether it was because Thomas lost his balance, or because Kurapika knocked him off the bar stool, the man tumbled to the ground. He jumped to his feet, yelling something about his knees being weak, then Kuroro tripped him again, and he fell into a row of chairs behind him, causing the few patrons around them to erupt into laughter. Thomas shot up again, picked up his bottle from the bar, and smashed it over Kuroro's head.

The bartender jumped over the bar with unusual agility given his height and weight, and tackled Thomas to the ground, before Kuroro could do anything more . He waved some men over, who dragged the frothing Thomas outside.

"He always does that, I'm real sorry. We've done everything but get a restraining order in him. It's bad for business, you know? He's always chasing the ladies away. Some of the young men too." The bartender shook his head as he picked up the shards of glass off the table. "Hey, next one's on me. You need something for that?"

Kuroro shook his head, smirking slightly, though he looked about ready to kill Thomas, or the bartender, or even Kurapika. It was hard to tell actually. "I'll take a bottle of whatever he smashed over my head," Kuroro said.

"Hard-headed. I like that." The bartender grinned, his eyes darting around the room. He cleared his throat. " Again, I'm real sorry. Coming right up. Sorry about that, I really am. And apologies to your friend here too."

Kurapika shot Kuroro a look, and tried to figure out if he was mad, flattered, or somewhere in between.

Kuroro touched his forehead, his finger coming away with blood on their tips. "Better me than you I guess."

"I don't need your help," Kurapika replied, though there was little force behind his words. He grabbed a handful of napkins and extended them towards him.

"Never said you did." Kuroro wiped his hands on the napkin then his face. "How badly am I bleeding right now?"

"Pretty damn badly. You need to bandage that up." He glanced at the blood running down his nose. The bartender sat two beers on the counter and apologized again, before finding some gauze from somewhere. Kuroro wrapped it around his forehead, then downed his beers with what Kurapika could only describe as unnatural speed, before the two of them left the bar, trudging down the road.

He couldn't help but glance at Kuroro every once in a while. He was unusually quiet, holding a napkin to his head, which he guessed wasn't unusual. But the taller man looked unusually irate too.

Kurapika cleared his throat.

Kuroro glanced down at him. "What? He was drunk off his rocks," he said, lowering the blood-stained napkin. "'When you don't know what I am, I am something, but when you do know what I am, I am nothing'. Sounds like something out of a movie."

He shrugged, brushing his suspicions aside. "It was sort of weird." Kurapika thought of the needles. He fished around his pocket, wondering if he'd rid himself of them or not. "Here." He pulled it out.

"That for sewing us some new clothes?" Kuroro asked, motioning to his own bloodstained attire. "I need to change before I get arrested again, so we'll have to buy something...and yeah that needle will probably come in handy."

"No. And I need to save my money."

"Then we can just steal some?" He put one hand in the air. "Before you get angry, we're already criminals. Might as well make it worthwhile."

* * *

Stealing actually didn't seem like a bad idea as Kurapika swiped his card at the grocery store the next morning. They'd spent the night at a motel, which had cost money. And now they were spending more money. Something as simple as jeans and a shirt made his bank account groan in agony. And while he was loathe to part with his clothes, he had no choice considering they did need to lay low for a little while, and Kuroro was covered in blood.

"So how is this going to work out," Kuroro asked, as they stood inside the store's bathroom. He lifted up the bag of clothes.

Kurapika looked at the handcuffs between them. "Do you have scissors?"

"I can get some."

"So you'll need to cut yourself out of that and...damn it," he said. "I don't know. It's not going to work at all."

"Yeah, this is already starting to sound way too complicated."

"But you look like the walking dead." Kurapika folded his arms. "Maybe we can douse your in laundry detergent and have you stand under the shower. " One man ventured in and he seemed to make a point of ignoring him, which Kurapika appreciated.

"It's a idea?" Kuroro reached up and scratched his head. "So you want to return these?"

An idea hit him just then. "Where did you buy your clothes from?"

"Not sure. I woke up in them, so presumably I purchased them while I still had my memories."

"Can I check the tag on them?"

Kuroro turned around and knelt down. Kurapika pulled out the tag and looked at it. _AIE apparel. Hm._ He pulled out his phone and looked it up. _Really pricey, but the closest one is like a hundred miles from here. Not walking distance, so maybe he got it from a thrift shop?_ He searched for thrift shops in the area Kuroro had first appeared in. There was only one near where they'd first met, Blue Stone Thrift.

"A light bulb just went off on your head," Kuroro remarked.

"Yeah...but it seems like a reach at best."

"Better than what we have now, which is nothing."

"Let's go here then." Kurapika held the phone in front of Kuroro's face.

"Aren't we avoiding that area?"

"Yeah, but I have an idea," he replied.

* * *

Blue Stone Thrift was closed when they arrived, though it opened in fifteen minutes. The store's owner stared at them with suspicion until 8:01 am when he waddled over and unlocked the glass doors with about as much speed as a dying turtle. Kurapika hurried inside, dragging a confused looking Kuroro with him. The store wasn't unusually large, but it wasn't organized and it took a bit of time to leaf floral patterned button-ups and suspiciously stained jeans before he found what he was looking for. His fingers found a familiar looking leather trench coat decorated with white fur around it's collar. On the back was a golden imprint of Saint Peter's Cross. He glared at it.

"Doesn't seem like your style, but okay," Kuroro said. "You'd look good in most anything probably."

"No, it's not for me. Kuroro Lucifer had a jacket just like this one," Kurapika said, holding it up. "Exactly like this one."

Kuroro shook his head. "Yes…and I possibly brought my other clothes from here, which means that jacket is probably mine."


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

"That jacket could belong to anyone," Kuroro said, running one of his long fingers along the fur collar. "It smells strange like…fake fall spices."

Kurapika snorted. _True._ The jacket didn't mean much and it did smell like air freshener. Still, its presence here seemed odd to him for some reason. He checked it for any needles. For anything at all. _Nothing._

And the thrift store's owner was staring at him suspiciously, probably thinking he would try to steal this. _As if._ Kurapika wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like this.

"I wouldn't bother with that one," the owner said, his long nose high in the air as he stared over at them from behind the register.

"Why not?" Kurapika asked, turning to face him.

"Some man left it in the trash a while ago," he said. "Broke my 'no changing in the bathroom' rule too. I sprayed it with some autumn scented air freshener, but it didn't do much good."

Kurapika wrinkled his nose. He did suppose that the standards for a thrift store weren't very high, _but still that's gross._ He shot the owner a look, before thanking him for the information and turning back to Kuroro.

"Do you like it?" Kurapika asked, holding it in front of Kuroro's face. Presumably, if he was the real Kuroro, he would. "Does it make you feel anything? Or remember anything?"

"Are you my shrink now?"

Resisting the urge to scowl, he pushed the coat's fur collar against the taller man's nose. "I'm serious," Kurapika replied.

Kuroro leaned away from the jacket. "It's not ugly if that's what you mean. Sure, I'd probably where it. But look, you seem like you're grasping at straws. It was a smart lead, but even if this jacket is mine, it's not bringing back any memories. At best, this indicates I'm some sort of angst-ridden nihilist."

 _Not that far from the truth,_ but he kept that thought to himself. "All we have are straws to grasp at." Kurapika hung the jacket back up and folded his arms, wishing he could recall what other sort of apparel Kuroro Lucifer liked to wear.

"What about that riddle?" Kuroro said.

"If you don't know what I am, I am something, but if you do know what I am, I am nothing? That means nothing to me, and you were the one who said he was probably just really drunk."

"It's a pretty good riddle though for a drunk man." Kuroro frowned. His frown turned into a scowl and suddenly Kurapika was sure they had the same idea as he did.

"You think he was the riddler? The guy at the bar?" Kurapika asked. If so, he'd be pissed, because that meant Kuroro's theory about not doing anything to bait the riddler was true. And it meant they could've wrestled some answers out of him instead of letting him walk off. Kurapika hadn't even been drinking, so he had no excuse either.

"A riddle," the shop owner said, appearing next to him. He had a hastily taped up cardboard box in one of his hands. "The answer is a riddle."

Kurapika spun towards him. "I appreciate your help, but seriously—"

The man tapped the side of his head with his middle finger. "Think about it for a minute."

"I get it," Kuroro said. "A riddle means nothing once it's solved, it's only something when you don't know what it is, because a riddle is no longer a riddle when it's answered."

"Here you go." The owner handed Kurapika the box. "Said to give this to the first person who said that riddle out loud in this store."

"Who said that?" Kurapika asked, taking the box from him. It was in the shape of a book, a rather large and heavy one.

"Dunno, but she paid me close to 300,000 jennys just to hold onto this thing until someone came around and promised me twice as much once someone said it. Oh, you aren't supposed to open it until you get to this address." He handed him a piece of yellow paper. "Don't ask, because I don't know. Plus I wouldn't get overly excited. I saw her fish whatever she put in that box out of the dumpster behind this place. Kids these days think they can pull one on me, but I'm always watching."

Kurapika glanced at his taller companion. Kuroro looked as miffed and suspicious as he felt, but it seemed like there was little to do aside from trust the shopkeeper. He saw zero reason for him to lie to a couple of strangers anyway.

* * *

The address took them to what he could best describe as a communal house located at the end of a solitary, dirt road. The walk there from the thrift store took about two hours, and Kurapika was glad a slight chill hung in the air, keeping him from turning into a sweaty mess. The house was booked full for the night, and frankly it didn't look like a place Kurapika would want to stay anyway, but the owners promised a room would be available tomorrow all the while staring at the handcuffs linking them together.

"Don't you live around here somewhere?" Kuroro asked, sitting on the edge of the curb just in front of the house.

"Sort of. My boss lives here," he replied. "Light Nostrad."

"Mafia?"

Kurapika sat next to him. "How did you know?"

"With a name like Light Nostrad?"

Kurapika shook his head and ran his hand along the edges of the box. "Well, we went to the address. I'm guessing we can open this now..." He peeled the tape off the box carefully and extracted its contents. A book. One he didn't recognize, though he felt that he should have. But when he looked at Kuroro, eyes lit up with recognition, he did a double take.

"I recognize that," Kuroro said, extending his hand towards the book.

Kurapika gave it to him. Kuroro studied it for a moment, his eye narrowing as if in deep thought, before gingerly flipping it open.

"Hey you!"

Kurapika's head shot up, searching for the source of the voice. Though he already knew who it was by its familiar rasp. _Jasper._


	12. Chapter 12

**AN:** Since I can't reply to you directly, thanks Rie-san for leaving a review (twice)! For you, I did not end this chapter with a cliffhanger or I tried not to at least lol.

* * *

 **Twelve**

Kurapika glanced over his shoulder. _Jasper_ was stalking towards them wearing a scowl that only rivaled Kuroro's. _He doesn't look too happy either. Great._ Oddly enough, Jasper appeared to be alone, an indication that he didn't feel threatened by them. _That or_ Jasper was packing heat they didn't know about.

There was something a little strange about Jasper.

Kuroro sighed. "Can we just knock him out? Give him the old one-two?"

"So long as you don't trip me up by mistake, sure," Kurapika said. "Wait. No. You can't do that. He's like fifty, you'd probably kill him."

"Wouldn't be too upset about that," Kuroro replied.

Kurapika glowered in his direction. But Jasper appeared over them, arms crossed, and looking smugger than the occasion called for. "Well, isn't this a coincidence," he said. "Meeting you two here."

"You stalking us?" Kurapika said.

"I don't have enough time for petty things like that." He shook his head. "I own this place. You're sitting on my curb."

"How come that's not surprising?" Kuroro sat the book on the ground and stood up. Kurapika noted that the chain had grown shorter, less than five feet for sure, probably closer to four at this point. _Great. Pretty soon I'll be on his lap._

"I'd bother you for the Eyes, but I doubt you have them on you." Jasper stepped onto the curb and headed for the house. Then he paused, his black shoes shining in the light as if freshly waxed. Turning around slowly, he pointed a gun at them. "On second thought, how about you hand them over?"

Kuroro had them in his hands, _when did he take them from me,_ and tossed them to Jasper. The man's dance to catch them might have been comical, and while he did manage to catch one, the other fell to the ground and shattered due to Jasper's presumed unwillingness to drop his weapon.

Kurapika blinked rapidly, seeing red suddenly, but Kuroro was jerking him down the solitary road while Jasper scrambled to pick the Eye off the ground. They got some distance away before diving into the surrounding woods.

"What the hell?" Kurapika said, shoving him hard.

"Did you want to get shot?"

"Damn you! Those weren't yours to give away!"

"Last time I checked, they were."

Kurapika went to punch him, but somehow the taller man caught his fist with ease.

"Calm down. I'll get them back for you," Kuroro said, his grip tightening around his hand.

Kurapika pulled away from him, intentionally pulling the chain that separated them hard enough to make Kuroro stumble. A little too hard, because the taller man tumbled right into him and they both hit the dusty ground hard.

"How are you gonna get them back for me, idiot?" Kurapika asked, shoving him away.

Kuroro rolled away from him, which wasn't very far given how little length they now had between him, and sat up. "I will get them back for you, trust me. But he was going to shoot us, whether we forked them over or not."

"Which I could've handled," he said, propping himself up onto his elbows. "Go to hell."

Kuroro held up his handcuffed arm. "Think I'm already there."

For some reason, the comment offended him more than it should have as he got to his feet. _Why do I care what he thinks?_ He didn't, but still. Kuroro had no right to be upset when it was… _actually it's my fault we're in this situation. Damn it. Damn him. Damn it all._ He took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart, though even after several minutes he felt no less angry. Not angry as Kuroro specifically, just at him generally.

"I'm sorry," Kuroro said. He dusted his jeans off. "Can we move on? Because getting angry isn't going to magically separate us."

"Fine. What do we do next?" His thoughts turned to the book, the box, _where is it?_

"Forgot to grab the book," Kuroro said. "How much you want to bet Jasper has it?"

"My life," Kurapika said. "We have to try and get it."

"Not when he's expecting us to," Kuroro replied. "Before you get angry, we'll track him. Steal the Eyes and the book."

"What was that book anyway?"

Kuroro shrugged. "I…don't know. I just feel like it's mine for some reason. I barely got a chance to see what was inside of it though."

Kurapika thought it looked familiar too, but he wasn't sure how or where he'd seen it before. He was certain not around Kuroro Lucifer, but then again he couldn't boast having known the man that well. But that entire idea was foolish. There were probably hundreds, thousands, of books like the one Kuroro had. Kurapika might have even owned one himself at one point.

"So how do we track Jasper?" Kurapika asked. "Since you're going to get the Eyes back for me."

Kuroro grinned. "I have a few ideas."

* * *

Jasper emerged from his sometime after midnight while Kurapika struggled to keep his eyelid separated as he sat in the shadow of a tree. Somehow, Kuroro looked as alert as he did earlier, which was odd. But Kuroro never seemed tired, at least not like a normal person. Even when he should have been exhausted, he managed to never show it. _Strange._

They were staked out in the forest surrounding the communal home, which Kurapika figured if Jasper had any sense, he would assume they were here waiting for him. But Kuroro's plan didn't involve stealing anything tonight; simply following Jasper. was their goal

The man in question walked down the road, whistling with an uneasy nonchalance that furthered Kurapika own suspicions that the man was stronger than he appeared. _But then again money often makes men bolder than they are._ He'd seen that firsthand with Light. And now that his money was gone, he wasn't so bold anymore.

The two of them followed Jasper quietly, and Kurapika was both impressed and suspect at the level of noiselessness Kuroro walked with. Jasper reached the end of the road, where a white jeep met him. He got in the passenger's seat and disappeared somewhere down the road.

"I got the license plates," Kuroro said.

"Which we can't run unless we're a member of law enforcement," Kurapika replied.

"Or if you're a member of the Hunter's Association."

Kurapika shot him a look. "Who would that be?"

One of the taller man's dark eyebrows went up. Kurapika sighed, before pulling out his phone. He went to the Hunter's website while Kuroro told him the number. "How did you know I'm a Hunter? How do you even know what a Hunter is?"

"I saw it in your wallet a while back," he replied. "And I don't. I just took a guess mostly."

"How can you even guess something like that?" He looked up Jasper's license plate number. _Takes us to that Museum._ Which wasn't helpful.

"Honestly, I recognized the card as being a Hunter's License and vaguely remember it has some sort of perks, so I guessed maybe one of those perks was access to information you wouldn't otherwise have. You really should utilize that more often, I mean why are you paying for train tickets and stuff when you could probably ride for free?" Kuroro said.

"I do use it. To find the Scarlet Eyes."

"What is it with you and those things anyway?" Kuroro asked. Kurapika glanced at him, but the man was looking elsewhere. Probably hadn't meant anything with the question anyway, and Kurapika wasn't about to give him an honest answer _anyway._ He looked through the information on Jasper next, but the man didn't actually live locally, not even on this continent.

"How much you want to bet he'll give the Eyes to his wife like he originally planned?" Kurapika asked.

"It's a start," Kuroro replied, grimacing slightly. "Although it won't do much for my memories."

"But the book. You recognized it so maybe if you spent more time with it, you'll remember something?"

He nodded. "Alright. Find out where his wife lives. Maybe he'll keep the items together."

Kurapika found Jasper wife and where she was located. _She doesn't live with him. Strange._ While she didn't live near here, it was at least not on the other side of the world. _Still, we'll likely have to take a plane._ He saved the address in his phone. _7% battery. I really need to buy a charger for this thing._ They went to a store and he brought a charger, but his phone died and there was no place to charge it anyway. Kuroro somehow hailed a late-night taxi, or at least someone willing to drive them to the airport for money.

Sitting in the backseat of the car, Kurapika wasn't sure if he was still angry or not, but he did feel a slight urge to trip Kuroro every time he glanced at him. _Stupid,_ because he'd likely send them both to the ground. He gazed out the window, still unsure if this was Kuroro or not. It was a strange thing, what had happened to them. Strange to think that the leader of the Phantom Troupe could have somehow lost his memory and turned into the bumbling man next to him. But strangest of all was the fact that Kurapika found himself feeling less and less upset at the idea that this somehow was the real Kuroro Lucifer.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

Kurapika shook his head wearily, trying to push away the fog of sleep descending on him. He'd just had a ridiculous dream that he was okay with Kuroro being the same Kuroro Lucifer who had murdered his clan. Not a dream, just a thought, because he hadn't been sleeping, just shut his eyes for a few seconds. _I must be losing my mind._ Probably just stress. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

Kuroro was, not surprisingly, wide awake next to him as his dark eyes stared out the window at a blur of white and gray outside. _Is it morning already?_ Kurapika didn't remember falling asleep. _Maybe it was a dream._ His fingers throbbed and he discovered part of the handcuff was somewhat uncomfortably twisted around his middle finger and thumb. Carefully prying them free, he rubbed his digits until they were less sore.

In front of him, a child was staring at them, open-mouthed. And Kurapika resisted the urge to tell her to _mind your own business_. They did probably look a little odd.

 _A child?_

He shook his head, taking a closer look at his surroundings. _This isn't a taxi?_ "How did we get on a train?" He asked, fishing through his memories for an answer. Getting in the taxi he remembered, _was it a taxi?_

Kuroro looked over at him. "We walked?"

"Really?" Kurapika shot him a look.

"I tried to wake you for fifteen minutes when we got to the airport, which I realized didn't matter because there was no way we were getting through an airport unless I could somehow convince everyone around me you were my child and that's why you were chained to me, so I took us to a train station instead. It's possible someone might fly us where we need to go for the right price, but probably not on a commercial airline."

"Oh." He rubbed his head. He hadn't felt that tired, having gotten a decent amount of rest the last few days. "Wait, you carried me? What do you mean?"

"I'm hoping we looked like a couple," Kuroro said. "And not like I had drugged and kidnapped you."

Kurapika rolled his eyes. "I'm serious, what happened?"

He handed him his wallet. "I used this to pay, since I know you'd be adverse to me stealing from someone else."

He took the wallet and was unable to resist checking to see if the man had taken anything else. _All there._

"Why are you wearing handcuffs?" The little girl in front of him asked.

"Fashion," Kuroro said before Kurapika could think of a better answer. Kurapika nudged him with his elbow.

"But how do you walk? Isn't it hard?" Her blue eyes were wide saucers staring at the glittering chain that linked them.

"It's not that hard if we're careful," Kuroro said, giving her a deceptively charming grin. "Where are your parents?"

Kurapika looked over the seat in front of them. The child was seated alone, and she couldn't have been much older than six or seven. His brows came together. Aside from a couple in front of them, the train sat empty.

"I'm on my way to meet them now," she said. "I'm afraid of planes, so I'm taking a train to meet mommy."

"Bet she's excited to see you."

The girl shook her head. "No, she is mad at daddy for losing her things, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone that."

"What's your name?" Kurapika asked, glancing around the train car again. _And didn't your parents teach you not to talk to strangers?_

"Juri," she replied, grinning widely so all her yellow teeth were on display. "I know who you are already." Her sparkling azure eyes were fixed on Kuroro, however.

"Me?" the taller man asked.

She nodded. "You're on the poster."

"Juri!" That was a frail looking woman hurrying over to them, red-faced and breathing heavily. "I told you not to talk to strangers anymore!"

"But he is not a stranger." Juri pouted and turned around. "I've seen him before on the poster."

"Sir, ma'am, I am sorry. She always does this". The woman took Juri's hand. "Now we have to move up to the front like I said would happen if you talked again." She jerked the little girl up the train car, to the front seat.

"I must be famous," Kuroro said.

But Kurapika could only frown _...Poster?_ His mind went to the most obvious answer: a wanted poster. They were both technically wanted, though not for anything serious enough to warrant posters.

Kuroro leaned against him slightly.

Kurapika grimaced and rubbed his head. "What do you want?"

"Let's say I'm who you think I am, what is the easiest, most simple way for you to confirm it or not."

"Go to your friends," he replied, with more bitterness than he intended. "You're a member of the Phantom Troupe, which you know because you probably looked that up on my phone."

"So why can't we do that?"

"Mainly because they'll kill me," he said. " But if you are Kuroro Lucifer, they'll do everything they can to restore your memories." _Or you could die if my restriction still applies._ Though he was pretty sure Kuroro had found a Nen Exorcist and freed himself from his chain some time ago.

"And as soon as they do, they'll kill you. I gotcha." Kuroro shook his head. "It was a thought."

An awful one, Kurapika surmised, _but still._ Even if he lost his ability to reason for a few moments and decided it was a good thought, he had no method whatsoever of tracking the Spider, or even contacting them. _They're from Meteor City I think,_ but there was no way he was getting in there either. It was more likely he'd run into them by accident than anything else.

 _But there is…Hisoka…?_ _Might he know where they are?_ The only person who wanted to kill Kuroro Lucifer as much, if not more, as him was Hisoka. But he was not about to call up the clown for favors, _and he probably changed his number anyway._

 _Still_ , he didn't push the idea away entirely. The only problem was that unlike last time he'd work with him, Kurapika didn't have anything Hisoka wanted this time.

* * *

They arrived at their destination as the moon fought to break away from the dark clouds hanging around it. Juri waved at them ecstatically as her caretaker dragged her off the train. Kurapika recognized the city without Kuroro having to tell him where they were as they made their way out of the station and onto the busy streets of Yorkshin. He'd spent plenty of time here in the past, and he was curious as to why Kuroro picked this place. He half suspected that Kuroro had done some research on his phone while Kurapika had been asleep, but maybe part of him remembered how sketchy the city was. If they were going to find someone who would fly them somewhere on the low, it would be here.

And being here gave him another idea. In this city Kurapika had taken his Nen from him, and he wondered if he retraced their steps if it would jog Kuroro's mind.

"How do we find someone willing to fly us somewhere?" Kurapika asked instead because he was not about to go searching for wherever he'd buried _that Spider's_ body.

"Start at the airport. Then just ask around." Kuroro's dark eyes darted around him, like he was searching for something, someone. His pace was slow too, not that they were in a hurry.

Kurapika pulled out his phone and stared at it for a few minutes, before finding the contact for Hisoka. _It's worth a try._ The phone rang several times and he was already regretting the call as he motioned for Kuroro to come away from the crowded street to a quieter corner near a building. _I should've just texted him, what was I thinking?_

"What a lovely surprise." Hisoka's voice was annoyingly soothing even over the phone. "Never did I think you would call me in a million years, blondie."

Kurapika sighed. "I have a question for you."

He could hear the other man click his tongue on the other end of the phone. "And what do I get if I answer it?"

"You still want to fight Kuroro?"

He chuckled. "Maybe. Maybe not. You know where he is?"

 _Well that answers my question._ "Maybe. Do you know where he is?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro's breathing next to his ear seemed loud suddenly, probably due to the lack of any response from the clown. Hisoka wasn't dumb and would want to know why he was looking for him. Kurapika stepped to the side, the handcuffs jingling. He felt ire rising up his throat, but he swallowed it and inhaled sharply. _Wait, just wait him out._

"I haven't seen him lately," Hisoka replied.

"What about the rest of the Troupe?"

"Mmmm, you've already asked your one question," Hisoka replied. "Now answer mine. Who's with you?"

"Kuroro." Kurapika ended the call. He blew air out his mouth. _What a waste of time. In what universe did I think he would give me answers?_ For good measure, he shut his phone off and shoved it in his back pocket.

The taller man was looking down at him curiously, so Kurapika explained the call as best as he could. His conversation had revealed that Hisoka didn't know where Kuroro was, which was sort of odd. Or he was lying about not knowing where he was, _which makes more sense._

"Hisoka…" Kuroro looked up at the sky. His expression darkened for a minute, but Kurapika blinked and it was gone, replaced with his usual look.

"You recognize the name?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro shook his head once. "No. Let's go to the airport."

"I don't have money to bribe someone," Kurapika said. "We can't even afford to buy regular plane tickets honestly."

Kuroro held up three black, leather wallets and smiled. "Actually, we can."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN:** 13 chapters? 13 Spiders? Anyway, here's a chapter from Kuroro's pov since I hit the 13 chapter mark (not that it means anything lol)

* * *

 **Fourteen**

The look the blonde gave him was a mixture of disbelief and annoyance, both of which mirrored Kuroro's own feelings. _Annoyance and disbelief._ Though less annoyed, and disbelief wasn't the right word for what he felt.

"You stole three wallets?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro gave a nod. _Actually five,_ but that didn't seem worth mentioning _._ Three after getting out of the taxi and two before getting on the train. Surprising how easily people were distracted by the handcuffs that the old bump and grab trick worked every time. And carrying around Kurapika, who was thankfully rather light, provided a second excellent distraction.

He would have stolen more money, but he planned to lowball whoever they convinced to fly them out to Jasper's wife and having too much cash on him wouldn't help that plan.

"When did you even take those?" Kurapika asked, reaching for the wallets.

Kuroro held them over his head, and out of his reach. "When I took them."

The blonde growled at him. "Seriously."

"You kept complaining about lack of funds." He crammed the wallets in his back pocket before Kurapika could take them from him.

"But I didn't say steal." The blonde gave him a dark look that rivaled the dark circles under his eyes.

He shrugged. "Sorry," he replied, hoping his thieving was enough to keep the blonde's mind distracted. Kurapika's deep sleep last night had not been the result of sheer exhaustion. Knocking him out hadn't been an easy decision, nor an easy feat considering how impossible it was to catch him off-guard. But considering they needed money and that, short of begging or finding a job, there was none to be found, the decision had become less difficult when he gave it some thought. And Kurapika had been bleary-eyed coming out of the taxi, probably still half-asleep when he'd handed him a bottle of water. _He won't remember anything._

"Come on." Kuroro moved back onto the street slowly so as not to trip either of them up. The handcuff dug painfully into the skin surrounding his wrist, _is it getting tighter?_

Kurapika trailed next to him. "So why did you bring us here?"

Honestly, Kuroro didn't even know where they were. Based on his research, Yorkshin appeared to be a large enough city that he would be able to find any and everything he needed, including a flight to Jasper's wife for the right price.

He shrugged. "Seems like a good place to be. Bustling city and what not."

"Do you remember Yorkshin?" Kurapika asked. And there was something about his tone, the way he said _Yorkshin_ that made him look down at the blonde curiously. _Yorkshin City. Should I remember it?_ But why would he?

When it came to his memories, he did recall some things. Little things. Insignificant things. Like how to pick-pocket and drive. Or he'd see a face and think _they look familiar._ But he figured those things were so ingrained within him that they were more instinctual or accidental than anything else. There were other things too, but he kept them from the blonde mostly because they didn't make sense. Like the Scarlet Eyes. _Eyes that change color when agitated_. But how or why he knew that made little sense to him, and a little bit of research online revealed that information wasn't a secret.

"Did you hear me?" Kurapika asked.

"Yes, I'm thinking," he replied. "No, I don't remember this place."

"Nothing?"

"Is there something I should know?"

Kurapika turned away from him. "No, I guess not."

A blast of cool air hit his face then, air coming from a partially open door to a hotel lobby. "Let's head to an airport."

* * *

"How much you willing to pay?" Percival asked, regarding them with suspicion as he stood arms crossed in the middle of an empty Ringon Airport. It was currently 12:15 am and Kuroro could scarcely fault the pilot for being wary of two strangers offering to pay him money for a flight out of the city.

"Depends," Kuroro replied.

"The only reason we need you to fly us is because of these." Kurapika held up his handcuffed arm. "We can't get them off."

Percival laughed. "That it? Shit, pay me and I'll take them off for you."

"Short of cutting off an arm, it's not happening," Kuroro replied. "Are you going to help us?"

Percival cackled again, his mouth wide like a shark's jaw, but he glanced up at him and shut his mouth. "Geez man, don't give me that look. Yeah, yeah. Give me $1000 cash right now. I'm going to fill her up, do some maintenance, so be back here at 3:00 am. You're lucky I'm headed that way anyhow."

"I'll give you the money when we board the plane," Kuroro replied.

"Well, good luck finding—"

Kuroro shoved his free hand in his pocket and spun around, heading for the exit. "We'll be here at three. If you're not, we'll give our money to someone else."

Kurapika stumbled to catch up to his as he walked away. He pulled on the chain, hard, causing him to stop.

"What?" Kuroro asked.

"Warn me before you start walking. My wrist hearts."

"Sorry."

"What are we going to do until three?" Kurapika asked.

"Eat? There's more than enough money to do so."

"How much did you steal anyway?"

"About 3,000," he lied, because the number was much higher. "You gotta know who to look for. Old people tend to carry around large swaths of cash due to habit, or not fully trusting financial institutions. And look at their clothes; rich people tend to only wear one or two expensive items. Only the truly poor show off with lots of designer clothes and jewelry."

"You stole from the elderly." Kurapika shook his head, though he didn't look overly disgusted. "You're an awful human being."

"I stole from the rich." Kuroro grinned. "And I know. What do you want to eat?"

"I want to sleep." The blonde reached up and rubbed his temples. "I've never felt this tired before. It's like I hit my head or something, but I can't even remember getting off the taxi. You really carried me to the train?"

"Have you ever been awake for this long before?" Kuroro asked. "You probably haven't gotten more than a few hours of sleep the last day."

"Yeah," he replied. "Longer in fact."

Kuroro nodded. "There's time for a nap if you want it."

"It'd be a waste to rent a hotel just for a few hours." Kurapika yawned, then shook his head. "Let's just get something to eat."

* * *

Percival's small plane rumbled, which didn't bother him so much as not being able to fall asleep did. But somehow, despite having not really slept in several days, Kuroro was loathe to do so now for reasons he didn't fully understand. It seemed natural that he would be tired, but unnatural to succumb to that tiredness. He wanted to sleep because it seemed like a natural thing to do, not because he actually felt tired enough to sleep.

He let his thoughts wander further, deeper into nothing, hoping to trick his mind into settling. The blonde sleeping on his shoulder, his lost memories, the book. Surely, there had to be something that held the key to who he was. Something he was overlooking, _but what is it?_

The plane rumbled again. A small thing could hold at most five people. Shaking his head, he shut his eyes and let his mind drift again. There was one thing Kuroro was certain of: however he had lost his memories had been his own doing.

 _Is that the key to remembering who I am?_ Maybe it really was that simple.

Kurapika sat upright suddenly, lifting his head off his shoulder.

"Sleep well?" Kuroro opened his eyes and glanced over at him.

The blonde glowered in his direction and for the first time Kuroro noticed something a little odd about his eyes.

"Do you wear colored contacts?" He asked, surprised.

"What's it to you?"

Kuroro shook his head. "I just...did not see you as that type." For the blonde did not strike him as someone interested artificially enhancing his appearance. Not that the black lenses enhanced much anyway.

"It's not for aesthetics," he replied. But his demeanor changed, his face went a little pale, his body a little rigid, and he turned away from him.

"A more practical reason then?" But the conversation was lost. It made him wonder though, about those strange Scarlet Eyes. Why the blonde was so interested in them.

"Yeah, a more practical reason, " Kurapika said.

He decided not to push it. Though there was something in him that told him he should. That told him the blonde wanted to talk about it.

 _Whatever._ He let his head fall back against the seat and he shut his eyes. But even then he did not sleep. And before he knew it the plane had landed at their destination: an airport nestled beside a sandy beach.

Percival regarded him oddly as they stepped off the plane. "You're welcome," he said without the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"Thanks," Kurapika offered. _Asshole,_ but Kuroro kept that part to himself instead giving him a polite smile and extending a hand to him, which the pilot shook.

"You know...I've seen you somewhere before." Pervical's beady eyes looked at him. "You…on tv or something?"

"No," Kuroro replied.

They went down the beach airport toward the city. The scenery was picturesque in the way azure waters rolled sensually onto the white sand. The sun already sat high in the sky indicating the time to be around noon or so when they entered the city.

"Are we in Minj City?" Kurapika asked.

"Jasper's wife lives here." He pulled out the address. "It's still quite a bit to get there. You hungry again?"

Kurapika's stomach growled as if in answer, but he shook his head. Despite that, Kuroro brought him six apples from a grocery store, three of which the blonde ate right away despite his insistence that he should've gotten another fruit. Apples were filling and easy to carry around; superior to most fruits. But Kurapika disagreed however arguing the bananas had more nutritional benefits and were therefore better fruits, which frankly didn't seem like a fight worth fighting.

They headed down the street, keeping to a narrow sidewalk, towards the address they'd found for Jasper's wife. Minj City wasn't bustling with activity despite the pretty scene surrounding them. And as they got closer to the outskirts, the streets became less black and more sandy until they were back on the beach.

"Think the chain is getting shorter?" Kurapika held up his wrist.

"I'm trying not to think about the chain at all," he replied. "Apparently, if you ignore a problem long enough it simply disappears."

"I wish you'd disappear." But Kurapika seemed to regret his words immediately if the apologetic look on his face was anything to go by. Not that Kuroro cared.

He felt the same way about him.

* * *

Jasper's wife's house was pretty much what he expected. A mansion seated atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. What he didn't expect was for that cliff to be in the middle of a body of water, an island unto itself.

Kurapika groaned as they looked across the water at the lone house sitting there. "There's no way we're getting across that."

"Not unless we find a boat," he replied.

"From where? Plus who's going to navigate it?"

"Can't be too difficult. A canoe would work too; problem is she'll see us coming no matter what we take." He frowned. "I think our best bet is to wait and see how people get to and from the place. Doesn't even look like anyone's there now."

Kurapika let out a sigh. "That'll take all day."

He was right actually. They needed to find out if this placed belonged to Jasper's wife or not, and if she was actually there. Both answers came easily enough though. A fisherman standing nearby confirmed to him that yes, Jasper's wife, _Cecilia or Susan_ _or Something_ , did in fact live there and was probably there now being that her feet never stepped past her front door except to occasionally drop off her daughter at the airport. Jasper was quite infamous apparently, though the fisherman seemed hesitant to say for what.

However, the man did inadvertently point out how _Something_ got to and from her island home on the rare occasions she left: a small dock where a wide array of boats sat. But upon inspecting the dock, it didn't seem like a good idea, trying to cross over to her house. There was a chance the book wasn't even there, and a greater chance that it wouldn't do anything for his memories anyway. It was a good half hour at least to her home and that was using a motorized boat, a canoe would take three times that long if they were lucky.

But Kurapika looked so hopeful, Kuroro suggested they wait until nightfall and try to take one of the canoes over since it would make the least noise. Though that too seemed like a bad idea, and the longer he thought about it, the more reasons he came up with as to why is was a poor idea. By the time nightfall arrived, he was thoroughly convinced they shouldn't even bother because it would be a waste of time.

"I don't know about trying to navigate these things with one arm," Kuroro said, gesturing towards one of two canoes floating in the water.

"You're the one who said the other boats are too noisy."

"Because they are." He sighed. "I hope you can swim pretty well."

The blonde gave him a look. And as they untied the canoe, his own hesitations only increased. But oddly enough, the sense of foreboding resting in the pit of his stomach didn't make him want to turn around. It made him excited, to think that something was going to go wrong.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN:** HunterxHunter's back fam. Sorry for not updating last week. And thanks to anyone who left a review! I promise to make the next chapter with fluff.

* * *

 **Fifteen**

The canoe moved forward shakily as Kurapika tried to figure out some way to hold onto the paddle without dropping it. _Yeah, this was a bad idea._ And while he knew it was a poor idea even when he first thought of crossing the water to get to the mansion, he would rather risk trying a bad idea, than not trying anything at all. Besides, there was only one way to get to Jasper's wife and apparently this was it.

 _Of course_ they could've waited until Mrs. Jasper made an appearance to drop off her daughter _or something_ , but according to the fisherman that was next to never _which is too long to wait._ And Kurapika's patience was close to nonexistent at this point.

The canoe rocked slightly, surging through the inky, strangely calm water. Tiny drops of luquid splashed onto his hands as he dropped the paddle in the sea, but the chain was too short for him to row properly without impeding Kuroro's own ability to move the boat forward. They were barely a foot off shore and _already I'm struggling this much._

"Just let me do it," Kuroro said, looking over his shoulder at him. "The chain's too short for both of us to paddle correctly, and you can't do it with one hand."

"How do you know that?" Kurapika asked.

"Because I have eyes and you're not even holding it right with two hands. How are you going to paddle with one? Plus the ocean's not like paddling in a lake or river."

Kurapika's paddle clunked noisily at the bottom of the canoe as he dropped. "Alright. Don't complain to me when you get tired though."

"I won't get tired." He grinned at him. "Move your arm forward a bit."

Kurapika did. After a moment, the canoe moved forward smoothly, approaching, the mansion atop the cliff. He squinted to see where exactly and how exactly they were going to get inside the building once they reached shore. _Really should have thought this through more thoroughly, or at least did a little bit of research first. Although…_ he glanced at Kuroro, wondering if the man could somehow break inside without causing too many alarms to go off. He shook his head. _No, we're not breaking into anything._ They didn't know anything about Jasper's wife and just because he was an ass, didn't mean she was too.

"Do you hear that?" Kuroro asked.

A wave of water came into the canoe, drenching his hair and clothing. Kurapika sputtered. The canoe rocked back and forth violently, like something was pushing against it, moving it away from the house. He gripped the sides of the boat, before peering over into the water. Three, bright orange eyes stared up at him. The eyes vanished and the rocking stopped.

"What was that?" Kurapika wiped water out of his face with the back of his hand.

Kuroro was looking over the canoe's edge too. "Guard dog?"

"A guard dog that swims underwater."

"Figuratively speaking, I mean." Kuroro sighed. "It pushed us off-course too. We're lucky it didn't push us off into the sea."

"Should we go back?"

"Why are you asking me?"

 _That's a good question,_ but still he felt ire rise up his chest. "Let's try one more time, then go back and try something else if that doesn't work."

"Alright." Kuroro maneuvered the canoe so they were once again headed towards the mansion. He was seemingly taking a more roundabout way, rather than directly approaching the cliff.

"You hear that?" Kuroro asked, jerking the paddle out of the water.

A high-pitched whistle rang throughout the air, light and airy. And so soft that he barely caught it. "What is it?"

Kuroro put a finger to his lips. Something splash next to him and Kurapika peered over the edge of the boat to see orange orbs glowering back at him. He jerked backwards. "What should we do?"

"Nothing. The waves are taking us towards the mansion," Kuroro said.

But whatever was in the water slowly circled them and began pushing them back, towards the shore. It's outline was long and dark under the moon's faint light bouncing off the water. The boat rocked slowly. He considered hitting the critter with his chain to scare him off, but harming the creature didn't appeal to him so much as getting it to go away. _Maybe I can distract it somehow?_

 _Duh._

"I have an idea," Kurapika said.

Kuroro turned his body around to stare at him. "Is it a better than taking a canoe into the ocean?"

"Funny." Kurapika resisted the urge to kick him. "I'm going to pull us forward with my chains."

One of his eyebrows went up. "You only just now thought of that?"

"It's not my fault your stupidity is rubbing off on me," Kurapika snapped.

"I meant that as a compliment, but apparently I don't even remember how to do that right." The taller man smirked. "Just go slow."

"I know what I'm doing." He searched the cliff for a good place to grab onto, finally settling on a sturdy enough looking tree. "We have to switch spots. So I'm at the front." Kurapika stood up, balancing himself carefully.

Kuroro's face twisted for a moment. He stood up, the boat swaying slightly for a second, before he sat back down. "Maybe we should go back to the shore, switch, and start over?"

 _That_ actually wasn't a bad idea, but he wasn't feeling overly generous at the moment given the taller man's earlier comment. "Why?"

"Because why not?" He shook his head. "Just listen to me and sit down. I'll take us back to shore."

Something hit the canoe with a thwack. Kurapika fell into the murky water, taking Kuroro with him. His mouth filled with a salty liquid and he couldn't really see where the surface was. Kurapika swung his chain somewhat blindly in the direction of the mansion. He sensed it wrap around the tree and used it to pull them through the water to the shore. The handcuff dug painfully into his wrist, but he somehow managed to pull them both out of the water.

Kuroro coughed. "What the hell?" Kuroro sputtered.

"Sorry," Kurapika said sheepishly. He wiped his nose and coughed. "But you should've told me it would tip."

"Thought that would be common sense considering we were in a canoe on the ocean."

Kurapika considered jerking the chain, but his own wrist was sore and he'd be hurting himself just as much as Kuroro. _Whatever._ Pushing himself to his feet, his gaze rested on the cliff in front of them. It wasn't too large that scaling it would be impossible, but there didn't seem to be any obvious method of getting to the house at its top.

"We'll have to find some way to the top," Kurapika said. "Unless...there's some other way inside."

"Like a tunnel or secret passage maybe?" Kuroro asked.

"Maybe."

"It's worth a try at least," Kuroro said. "Problem is what exactly are we looking for?"

"A strangely colored rock?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro shrugged though Kurapika noted he was smirking slightly. "A strangely colored rock it is," he replied.

The two of them started making their way around the cliff, looking for anything out of place. He was slightly surprised at the lack of security, but he supposed that the mansion atop a cliff resting in the ocean and guarded by some kind of nocturnal creature would be enough to dissuade most would be adventurers from attempting the trip. The shore was hilly and rocky. It looked like there was a jagged, man-made staircase that went around the cliff and led up to the mansion, but it was hard to even tell if it was finished under the night sky.

"We can try the staircase," Kurapika suggested.

"Ladies first."

Kurapika shot him a look. "You're not funny."

"So I've been told." Grinning, Kuroro moved towards the staircase. He stepped on the first step, then vanished. Kurapika had maybe half a second to process his disappearance before he was jerked forward, tumbling down into a small metal square, right on top of Kuroro's back.

"That was exciting," Kuroro said.

Kurapika awkwardly rolled away from him, but couldn't quite stand up because of the chain's length. _Great, it's getting even shorter._ Whatever they had fallen through shut. "Where are we?"

"Elevator?" Kuroro helped him to his feet and pointed to a set of buttons on the wall by him. He hit a button. The elevator ascended. "That was easy," he said.

Kurapika could only shake his head. _Yeah, too easy._ A few seconds later, the elevator stopped and the door slid open. They were inside of what looked like an empty living room. In front of them was a spiral staircase.

"This is a bad idea," Kuroro said. He held a hand in the air. "Don't get mad, just pointing out right now this is a terrible idea. We're almost certainly going to get caught unless she's senile or something."

"Is that you?" A female voice said. Kurapika spun around, trying to locate its source.

"Yeah it's me," Kuroro said. Kurapika nudged him, hard. _Shut-up._

"Oh good, I've been waiting for you. Come on upstairs." The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. _Some kind of PA system maybe? But why have one of those in a house?_

Kuroro glanced at him, but Kurapika could only shrug. _We've come this far, no turning back now._ They made their way up the spiral staircase slowly into a decadently decorated blue and light yellow hall lined with paintings of stoic men and women.

"Right down the hall, second door on your left," the female voice seemed to bounce along the marble floor.

Kurapika went to the second door, pushed it open slowly, and peered inside. A young woman with red hair was seated there in a rocking chair by a dark window. Around her were many paintings, dozens in fact, cluttering the small room. Some on the ground, others on the wall, many looking half-finished. A brown couch sat slightly to the left of them. She turned to face them, smiling widely.

 _But.._.Kurapika's eyes narrowed as he stared into the cloudy irises studying them. _Is she blind?_

"Hey," Kuroro said, taking a step forward.

Kurapika nudged him again. _Are you serious?_

"You sound a little different," the woman said, frowning slightly. 'Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's good. We had a bit of trouble getting here though," Kuroro said.

"Oh yes, Merlin can be quite picky sometimes with which visitors he bothers. I hope he didn't hassle you too much." She smiled. "Sit down, please. Make yourself comfortable. I have to apologize, but I sent everyone away. My nanny will be here soon and she can make you something to eat."

"No problem." Kuroro led him over to the couch and sat.

Kurapika bit his lip and sat next to him.

"Is someone with you?" she asked. "Your wife or girlfriend? I didn't know you met someone"

 _Weird._ "Yeah, I'm married," Kuroro said. "It's a recent thing. Like a few weeks ago. We eloped actually to save money."

Kurapika kicked him with the edge of his foot.

"Congratulations! Oh my, you're not a female though, I'm sorry." Her pale cheeks turned red. "It's nice to meet you…?"

"Kurapika," he said.

"Of course. I'm Lia Cann. Jasper's wife. It's nice to meet you and congratulations."

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you as well," Kurapika said. _Well, this is her at least. Jasper's wife. But now what do we do?_

He heard footsteps scampering up the stairway. The door banged open.

"Mommy!" It was Juri, from the train. She came skipping over to the woman in the rocking chair and gave her a hug.

"Manners," Lia said.

Juri straightened herself up. But when she locked eyes with Kurapika, she grinned. "It's you! I didn't think I'd ever see you again."


	16. Chapter 16

**AN:** This is my attempt to add some fluff for Rie-san. #itried2k17

* * *

 **Sixteen**

Kurapika started coughing, for lack of a better response. _That's the girl from the train?_ Juri. _And she's Jaspers daughter?_ What the hell were the chances of that?

He coughed again, hoping Kuroro would say something. But when he glanced at the taller man, Kuroro only grinned at him impishly as he leaned back into the couch.

"Again?" Lia asked, a frown tugging at the corner of her wide lips. "How did you meet them before, Juri?"

"On the train!" the little girl said, bouncing up and down on her feet.

A look of relief washed over Lia's face. "Oh, of course. Juri, will you get the nanny? Ask her to make some tea and have her get their bedroom ready too. I'm sure they're tired after such a long trip."

Juri nodded and shot the two of them a toothy, white smile, before bounding out the room like a kangaroo.

Kurapika wrinkled his nose. _Did she know we were coming?_ Maybe Jasper had warned her about them, _but she's awfully cordial if that's the case._ They were coming here to rob her basically. He could only conclude that Lia had mistaken them for someone else. But something didn't make sense about that. _I thought her name was Sarai?_ He was pretty certain the papers back at the museum had said so. _And Cann? Her last name is Cann? Is she not actually married to Jasper?_

"I'm sorry everything's so hectic right now. I thought you'd be in a little later. Anyway, do you want anything before we get started...Dan?" Lia's cloudy eyes darted around the room aimlessly. "Some water maybe? The nanny is making some dinner."

"No thanks," Kuroro said, sitting upright suddenly. "But I thought your name was Sarai? That's what Jasper told us."

Lia chuckled. "That's just the name I use for our museum. Sorry, Jasper has a thing about me using my real name for whatever reason."

"Ah. Well, my apologies. Just wanted to make sure we're at the right place," Kuroro said.

The nanny came in just then, three mugs of something steaming on a silver tray. _Coffee._ Kurapika wasn't a fan, but he thanked her and took the cup form her.

"Certainly." Lia lifted her mug up to her mouth and took a sip. "What's that jingling noise?"

Kurapika lifted the mug to his lips and nudged Kuroro. The scent from the mug hit his nose. _Too sweet,_ like someone had added too much sugar in an attempt to hide the flavor of the coffee. _Would she try to poison us?_ He took a sip anyway. Then another.

Kuroro cleared his throat. "Well, I lost the keys to these handcuffs having some fun with him—"

Kurapika sputtered, nearly choking on his drink. He managed not to spit any of the hot liquid onto the couch by covering his mouth with the back of his hand. The nanny handed him a handkerchief, while Kuroro patted his back gently. Kurapika carefully set the mug down on his lap.

"Be careful there," Kuroro said. "Any who, I didn't want to be late, so I had to bring him along with me. I'm real sorry about any inconvenience."

But Lia only chuckled lightly. "Oh. Been there before. I appreciate you not being tardy." She sat her mug on a small table next to her. "Shall we get started? Nothing heavy tonight, just a refresher on what I want."

"Right." Kuroro's dark eyes drifted around the room. They should leave. The real Dan would appear any moment now, and the gig would be up. "So about the portrait?" Kuroro said.

Lia nodded. "I want something a bit more abstract and I want to actually finish this one this time."

"Have you finished anything before?" Kurapika asked.

"Not much." She swept her hand around the room, at all the half-finished paintings around. "I'm hoping you'll be different from the others. I want something that really…speaks to me. Painting is a hobby of mine, but I can't really do so for obvious reasons."

"Of course," Kuroro said. "I'm happy to help."

"But first, where are my manners. Rest up." She gave them a toothy grin. "There's no rush. We can start tomorrow."

Like a bird, the nanny swept in, tight-lipped grimace in place, and entreated them to follow her. She led them down the hallway to a pair of large, wooden doors that she pushed open.

"You'll be staying in here," the nanny said. "Dinner is almost ready."

"Thanks," Kuroro said. "Uh Merlin ate our suitcases."

Her grimace tightened. "It happens. Ah, pardon me. I'll get you both something to...sleep in."

"Thanks."

She shut the door as she left. Kurapika listened to her feet padding down the hallway for a few seconds, before turning to Kuroro. "What the hell?" he said.

Kuroro blinked at him owlishly. "What?"

"You know what. You just lied to Lia about being…"

"Dan?" Kuroro grinned. "Hey, it worked didn't it."

"Yeah but you're not him." Kurapika stormed over to the bed, stopping short because of the chain. "Come on. I want to lie down for a minute."

"If the real Dan appears, we'll do what we do best: run." Kuroro followed him to the bed. Kurapika fell down onto plush pillows and soft linens. Despite his attempts to relax for a few seconds, his mind kept going back to the way Lia had said Dan. Almost like she was making that name up as she spoke.

But before he could sort his thoughts, the nanny came in with pajamas and towels, and announced dinner was ready. Downstairs, sat a rather sparsely decorated dining room consisting of merely a table and some chairs. The scent of something cheesy hit his nose. Kuroro's stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Kurapika said.

"Just a bit….dear."

Kurapika rolled his eyes. He sat down. Kuroro sat next to him.

"We're supposed to be newlyweds. Scoot closer to me." Kuroro whispered.

Kurapika gave him a look and lowered his voice. "She's blind and not going to see how close we're sitting next to each other."

"People can sense these things. Especially the blind." Kuroro scooted closer to him and placed an arm around his shoulders. Kurapika almost shoved it off, but instead gently nudged it away.

Lia sauntered into the room, apologizing about something. Conversation over a strange meal of macaroni and cheese lobster casserole and spiced peaches was pleasantly not forced. Lia had a lot to say about everything from the weather, to whether or not she should dye her hair another color. But she mostly talked about her hobbies, which consisted of painting _and painting._ Kuroro did most of the talking, _thankfully,_ and Kurapika chimed in only when he had gone on too long without saying anything.

But he found something strange about the conversation. Not once did she mention Juri, or even Jasper.

"Didn't you celebrate a birthday recently?" Kurapika asked. "Or your birthday's coming up soon?"

"Me? No, my birthday's not for another five months." Lia yawned. "Well, I think I'm going to sleep now. Tomorrow we can discuss everything in a bit more depth."

"Sure," Kuroro said. "Thanks for your hospitality."

"Of course." She smiled. "Oh and the shower in your bedroom is a little small, but there's one down the hall that should fit the both of your comfortably."

"We'll make good use of it." Kuroro winked.

They went back upstairs to the bedroom. Kurapika let out a huff.

"Damn it," Kuroro said, shutting the door behind them.

"What?" Kurapika asked, swallowing the words he was about to say.

"My wrist is killing me." He rubbed his fingers with his free hand. "I think some of my fingers are starting to go numb too. There's got to be some kind of wrist guard I can wear."

"Let me see it." _Not_ that he knew what to do. Kuroro stuck out his arm. While Kurapika's own arm had slight red marks, Kuroro's looked more heavily bruised. _Sort of purple._ "Maybe it's infected? Why does yours look so much worse than mine?"

"Certainly hope not." Kuroro let out a sigh. "And probably because, unlike me, you jerk my arm around without warning."

"Sorry."

"I'll accept your apology if you massage my hand?"

Kurapika gave him a look. _Is he serious?_ But the look on his face was. "What good would that do anyway?"

"Get the blood flowing? My fingers are going numb."

"Sit on the bed."

One of the taller man's eyebrows went up. "Seriously?"

"Sit. Before I change my mind. Plus it won't do either of us any good if we have to cut off your hand. I'd probably still be stuck in these handcuffs anyway." They sat on the bed. Kuroro placed his hand in Kurapika's, and he began to carefully massage it.

"Ow," Kuroro said.

"Massage your own hand then," Kurapika said.

"Don't married couples do stuff like this for each other?"

Kurapika gave him a look. _We're not married,_ but he didn't want to say that too loudly in the event someone was listening. "I wouldn't know."

"Never been in a relationship before?" Kuroro asked.

"No." He shook his head, focusing on the man's thin fingers. His hand was surprisingly soft in some place, but rough in others. _I hope my hands aren't too dry._

"Really?" Kuroro said.

"Really. I've no interest in relationships," he said. "Or friendships for that matter."

Kuroro nodded. "Why did you ask about Lia's birthday?"

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on Kuroro's long fingers. "I remember Jasper saying the Eyes were a birthday gift for her or something like that."

"Oh yeah. Odd."

"You remember anything yet?"

"Nope. I didn't see the book in the room Lia was in, nor in the hallways. There's about a million rooms in this place though, so it could be anywhere, if it's even here."

"Bummer." Kurapika glanced up at him. The taller man was staring at him _. Too intensely. What's his problem?_ He dropped his hand. "You're welcome."

His serious expression disappeared, replaced with his signature lazy grin. "I can feel again. Thanks." Kuroro fell back onto the bed. _Did he fall asleep that fast?_

The door flew open, banging against the wall. Juri bounced into the room, then squealed an apology once she saw Kuroro's sleeping form.

"It's alright," Kurapika said. _He's probably faking anyway._ He had no idea why, but he got the impression Kuroro never really slept, just pretended to.

The bright-eyed girl tip-toed towards the bed. "So…you two are really married? That's so wonderful!"

Kurapika glanced over at the sleeping Kuroro, before nodding. "Yeah."

"Did you wear a dress? On your wedding day, I mean?"

"Er…no, we eloped. Meaning we didn't have a real wedding or anything. We got married in…a…court…house."

"Oh, that's too bad. All the fun in getting married is the dress." Juri pouted, twisting a lock of her hair. "At least that's what Lia told me. When I get married, I'm going to pick out a pretty dress like a princess!"

"Your mother told you that?" Kurapika asked.

Juri nodded. "It's the only fun part about getting married according to…mommy."

"I think the fun is being with someone you care about for the rest of your life," Kurapika said. _Maybe._ He wasn't too sure about that, nor did he possess any desire to find out. His other goals were more important.

"Ya but Lia- I mean mommy says daddy is really annoying and mean sometimes." She leaned close to his ear. "They fight a lot. Do you guys fight a lot too?"

"We fight every day." _Every hour more likely._ _But_ despite all that Kurapika still didn't hate Kuroro _._ "But even though we fight a lot, I still like him…obviously, we're married." He tried to say that last part with cheer, but he was certain it sounded forced.

She pouted. "I hope I have a marriage like yours then."

"You will." He grinned at her.

Juri wished him goodnight and bounded out of the room. She struck him as a little too young to be thinking about marriage, _but whatever._ Turning his attention to his other problem, he nudged Kuroro with his elbow. "Wake up, I want to take a shower."

Eyes still closed, Kuroro wrinkled his nose. "You do smell kind of bad."

He grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it up to his nose. "So do you."

"Better use the big shower, or else that woman's not going to believe we're married."

"I'm not showering with you. Get up," he said.

Kuroro acquiesced, slowly rolling out of bed. The nanny, _what was her name again,_ had left them towels. The bathroom down the hall was quite large, but oddly empty of anything that would make it a proper bathroom. _No toilet paper? No soap? Not bathroom mats?_ The door to the shower was frosted at least. Kuroro promised not to look as Kurapika awkwardly stepped inside, then through his pants and undergarments over the top of the door. Soon, they would have to shower together if he wanted to shower at all. _Not happening._ He'd cut his arm off first. And he was damn sick of being trapped in this shirt, which was stained with his sweat among other things.

He used a tiny bottle of shampoo to clean his shirt, then lathered it in his hair.

Something about this whole situation rubbed him the wrong way, aside from the obvious fact that they were posing as someone they weren't. _Why doesn't Lia call the nanny by her name?_ The longer he thought about it under the shower's warm water, the more it seemed to him that Lia wasn't really Jasper's wife. But he had no evidence to support that idea other than a nagging suspicion.

"Are you almost done?" Kuroro said, his nose sticking through the crack where the chain was.

"What if Lia isn't who she says she is?"

The shower's water pattered steadily against his skin. He pressed his ear to the frosted glass.

"…You're thinking that too," Kuroro said.

"Wait, how did you come to that conclusion?"

Kuroro explained his reasoning: one she had hesitated when saying "Dan" and she'd looked at him like she was guessing. _Dan_ was similar to a name Kuroro had heard before though, _Don and Rika,_ and it would make sense that Don could paint being that he was involved with the museum. And while he admitted it was a stretch from there, his second reasoning was the fact that Juri seemed to forget to call Lia mommy. Combined with the odd emptiness of the house and the fact that Lia never mentioned the nanny's name, nor did she talk about any of the "pretty things" she apparently liked to collect, he concluded whoever this woman was, probably wasn't married to Jasper. In fact, the entire house was empty of anything rare or valuable as far as he could see.

"But my main evidence is that Jasper's last name is Sachiko, not Cann, at least according to the museum," Kuroro said. "I can understand her going by another first name, but why lie about her last name too? Unless, she assumed we wouldn't know. I think she slipped up with the Cann part."

Kurapika stuck his face in between the shower door to stare at him. "I knew something wasn't right…But you know, Jasper might not be Sachiko either. Maybe his last name is really Cann?"

"It's possible," Kuroro said. "Regardless, I wouldn't stress out about it."

"Why not?" Kurapika said.

"Because we're lying about who we are too."


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen**

Kurapika awoke the next morning somehow feeling better than he had when he'd laid down and gone to sleep last night which was… _sometime after midnight._ He vaguely remembered being worried Lia, _Sarai whoever she is,_ might murder him in his sleep. But Kuroro had been unbothered as always, _don't worry about it._

 _Speak of who,_ he glanced over the mini mound of pillows he'd piled between the two of them last night to find an empty half of a bed. He looked around the room, finally glancing down at his arm. _What happened to the handcuffs?_ Was he dreaming? He pinched himself on the elbow. Hard. And he felt it. So he pinched himself again until his skin turned red.

His eyes flitted around the bedroom a second time. Empty. And not a sound came from anywhere, not from beyond the large bedroom doors, not from the too-small-for-two-people bathroom either. Rolling out of bed, he fell down to the ground and peered beneath it. He had left his jeans and shoes by the foot of the bed last night, but they weren't there now. _Neither is my phone._ His hands groped around the dusty wooden floor in search of his possessions. Wiping his hands on the front of his shirt, he stood up and ventured over to the door.

At first, it didn't budge. And a spike of panic shot through him, that he'd been locked in here for some odd reason.

But that seemed ridiculous, so he pushed a little hard, then a lot harder until the large, stiff doors groaned in agony as they inched forward, just enough for him to peer through it. But unlike last night, the hall was no longer yellow and blue, and lined with paintings of demure faces. It was gray, empty, and dusty like no one had been living there for a while.

"Kuroro?" His voice echoed down the hall. "Lia? Juri?"

Downstairs, in the dining room, He noticed something he hadn't the first time he'd been there. A door.

Kurapika shot upright in bed so quickly he accidentally hit Kuroro in the face.

"What the hell?" Kuroro said, sounding more tired than angry.

Kurapika looked at his wrist. _Damn it…_ His heart beat rapidly, as if having woken up from a nightmare. But that dream could hardly count as a nightmare.

"Bad dream?" Kuroro asked, gazing at him with an intensity that made him look at the ceiling instead of his face,

"Something like that."

"Well, the night's still young or old considering technically it's morning right now. Want to look around?"

Kurapika blinked at him wearily a few times, trying to wrap his mind around something that didn't quite make sense. "Weren't you just asleep?"

"I'm a light sleeper." He threw the covers off and knocked the mini mountain of white pillows separating them onto the floor. He looked comical wearing the gray pajama bottoms the nanny had set out for them last night.

 _Whatever._ If they got caught, they got caught. He frankly wasn't even sure what they were doing here except looking for a book, which may or may not have had something to do with Kuroro's memories, so looking around was a good idea.

They ambled to the door, which opened with ease under Kuroro's hand. The hall was empty; the house oddly still even for the late hour. Not even the sound of the lake's water beating against the shore could be heard.

"Let's go to the dining room," Kurapika said, fully expecting Kuroro to ask why. But instead the taller man simply followed him downstairs. He wasn't immediately certain what he was looking for when he entered the room. _A door?_ But unlike in his dream there was no door anywhere. There was nothing really except the table and a few pieces of art clinging to the walls.

"You hear that?" Kuroro said, pulling him closer.

Footsteps, small and light, pattered towards them delicately accompanied by a light humming. Kurapika looked around for a place to hid, settling on the table which thankfully was covered with a tablecloth that partially concealed them.

As they clumsily ducked underneath it, the chain got caught on one of the table's legs.

The humming grew louder. Juri came skipping into the room dressed in pink pajamas. She hurried over to a wall and pushed against it. The wall slid open and she ran inside.

Kuroro waved him forward as he hurried from beneath the table, but the chain tugged on the leg, dragging it along the floor with a terrible, screeching sound Then the door shut.

Kurapika unraveled the chain and crawled from beneath the table. He stood up. _Did the chain get…longer?_ Seemed like he had a lot more space between him and Kuroro now.

"What now?"

"We can try pushing open the wall," Kurapika said. "Though I doubt it'll work."

"Agreed." But they tried anyway and not surprisingly nothing happened. He was surprised that the nanny or Lia didn't come storming downstairs given all the noise they'd just made, Kurapika suggested they head back to bed. But then the wall opened again and Juri stood there, wide-eyed and looking terrified. She burst into tears. Not quiet tears, but loud, wailing sobs that seemed to shake her entire body.

Kurapika ran over to her, pulling Kuroro behind him, and knelt down in front of her. "What's the matter?"

"Lia said no one was supposed to see me!" Juri shrieked.

"Shhh!" Kurapika gave Kuroro a look. "It's okay, we won't tell Lia. I promise."

"She'll probably be more upset if you wake her up," Kuroro said, crouching down next to him.

Juri sucked in a deep, hiccuping breath and nodded. "But…I'll be in trouble!"

"Why will you be in trouble? Can we help you not be in trouble?" Kurapika asked.

The young girl seemed to regard him with immense suspect for a moment, before nodding and, spinning on her bare feet, she slammed her hands against the wall. A door slid open and she bounded through it.

The two of them hurried after her into a dark, unlit hallway that led to an even darker staircase. His adjusted, but his hands still grappled to against the walls as he moved down the stairs where some light was. At the bottom of the steps were metals bars. _A prison?_ Juri stood next to the bars, still sniffling, and pointing her finger at the light peering from between them.

"Fancy meeting you here," Kuroro said.

Kurapika pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Sitting behind the bars was a grim looking Jasper next to an equally grim looking woman.A myriad of boxes surrounded them and a single light hung from the ceiling in between them.

Jasper, for his part, didn't even glower. The man looked defeated, like he'd lost a terrible bet and wound up imprisoned in his own home.

"What happened?" Kurapika asked.

"She's a crazy bitch is what!" Jasper spat. The woman next to him slapped his cheek. Hard. He could hear the crack of Jasper's neck as he recoiled.

"You were cheating on me," she said.

"No, I wasn't! I'm telling you, that woman is crazy! I would never cheat on you." Jasper clasped his pudgy hands together.

"What happened?" Kurapika repeated, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

Jasper's head snapped towards him. Then he let out a sigh and explained that he'd met Lia on his way home by train, _if that's even her real name;_ she was blind, homeless, headed his direction, and Jasper was a good man with plenty of money so he kindly offered her a place to stay with his wife and daughter, _just to help her get on her feet and all._ Absolutely, one-hundred percent he was not cheating and had never met the _damned girl_ prior to that. But when he'd arrived home, his wife Sarai had been gone _for once_ to pick up Juri. Lia had knocked him out somehow and he woke up here with Sarai next to him.

Normally, Kurapika would've cried foul on his story. But there was something sincere in the way Jasper spoke, in the way his eyes pleaded with his wife.

As to why Juri hadn't gone to the police, apparently Lia was her imaginary friend and so Juri didn't want to get her in trouble, and Lia had promised to take care of her parents so long as Juri called her mom whenever people were around.

"Who's Dan or Don?" Kuroro asked.

"If you mean Don Smo who works with Rika, yeah he paints and shit. Does some artwork for the museum, not for sale, just for décor and whatnot," Jasper said.

"Well, thanks for letting us know we need to get out of here," Kuroro said. "See ya later."

 _Agreed._ But it still felt wrong. Leaving him to rot in the care of a crazy, blind women.

"Give us the book," Kurapika said. "You know which one I'm talking about. And the Scarlet Eyes, where are they?""

Jasper stood up so quickly, he swayed as he went over to a box. He jerked it open and produced both of the items. "Let us out first."

"Hand them over first," Kuroro said. "Between the bars. Set them on the floor and step back."

Jasper scowled, but did as he was instructed as Juri stared at him with curious eyes. There was a frown on her face, a strange glimmer in her eye. But before Kurapika could say anything, she bolted up the stairs, screaming Lia's name.

"How do we open this?" Kuroro scooped the items of the ground and shoved them in Kurapika's hands.

"Pass-code is 648420477400038378383670234," Jasper said.

Kuroro gave him a look. "Why the hell would you pick a pass-code that long?"

"I've a good memory," Jasper said. "Now, come on. I'll say them one at a time, but you have to type it into the lock in less than twenty seconds or it won't open."

Kuroro typed under Jasper's directions and somehow got it the first time. Then he tugged Kurapika up the stairs into the dining room. "Exit is…?"

"Find a window and jump out of it for all I care," Kurapika said. "Let's try the kitchen first." The kitchen door opened up onto the shore.

"Is this even the right book?" Kurapika shoved the book under his nose. "Cause I don't want to leave and have to come back."

Kuroro took the book and studied it for a moment. His brows snapped together and the expression on his face went from mildly confused to something that resembled recognition.

"You remember something?" Kurapika asked, hoping, _praying,_ that he did.

"I do. The name of this book. Or rather what I use it for. Skill Hunter. I keep Nen abilities I steal from others in here."


	18. Chapter 18

**AN:** Sorry I didn't update the last few…weeks. A series of fortunate and unfortunate events led me to being away from my computer/Internet for much longer than I'd expected. Thanks to anyone who keeps reading and all who have left reviews TT.

* * *

 **Eighteen**

From the look on Kurapika's face, Kuroro might as well have said _I like to skin puppies on the weekends_. _Which might be true actually_ depending on who he really was.

The blond stared at him, his mouth deepening into a scowl. But his expression went blank suddenly. "Oh," Kurapika simply said.

"Does that mean anything to you? …Skill Hunter?" Kuroro asked, waving the tome in front of his face.

"...Does what mean anything to me?" Kurapika's eyes darted toward the book.

Kuroro flipped open the book and leafed through some of the pages. "No, it doesn't mean anything to me, but I know this is mine and what I use it for. Call it remembering or whatever you want."

Kurapika blinked.

"Cat got your tongue? Do you know what this is or not?" _But why was I carrying around a book full of blank pages? Maybe it's a journal…?_

 _Nah,_ whatever his past was, journaling was not part of it. Of that, he was certain.

"I don't know," Kurapika replied, looking down at the ground. His expression was like someone had just dropped a brick on his foot. "I don't really know what Kuroro Lucilfer's Nen ability is."

"Who would know?" Kuroro asked.

"We've already been over this," Kurapika said, making an obvious effort to avoid eye contact. "I take you to them, they cut my hand off to get us apart. Plus, there's no way I can find them except by chance."

 _Even still_ , Kuroro got the impression he was lying about something. _But whatever. No point in fishing it out of him now_ while they were trying to escape. "Okay, but what if—"

A loud wail rang out from the house behind them. Kuroro spun around, training his ear in its direction. It quieted after a few seconds. Then, another came, this time louder and shriller than the last.

He looked around. _The canoe is gone_ having floated some distance away. It really was too bad he hadn't the clue how to use this book; he was sure it held some way of helping them get across the water

"Should we check on…Jasper?" Kurapika began walking towards the house.

"We can just wait." Kuroro snapped the book shut and studied its cover.

"For what?"

He ran his fingers alone the books edges, then opened it again and flipped through each page. "For whatever. Lia might not care about us now that Jasper is free. He's probably called the police too, so it's only a matter of time before someone resolves this issue for us and we can sneak away. That sound was likely some sort of security system he has set in place."

"But what about Jur—"

A third shriek pierced the air, _but this one sounds human_. _Hopefully, Jasper is doing Lia in._ It would get rid of one problem at least.

"Sounded like a woman or…girl." Kurapika began walking towards the house.

Kuroro kept his feet firmly planted on the ground. "Sucks for them."

Kurapika turned and gave him a look. He tugged on the chain, lightly. "Really? You're just going to let someone die?"

"Jasper would've killed us on multiple occasions, you know that," he replied.

Kurapika jerked the chain, hard, his face steadily turning bright crimson. And for a split second, Kuroro thought he might actually slap him, which he actually found rather comical. "You're an asshole. I hope you know that," he said instead.

Kuroro held up his free hand. "I'm not going to argue with you, so if you want to go in, I'll follow on the condition you don't fight anyone without warning me first."

The distant sound of sirens reached his ears. Red and blue flickered through the trees surrounding the house. _Someone actually called the cops,_ which wasn't a problem unless they were mistaken for thieves. And he got the distinct impression that Jasper wasn't above accusing them of stealing things from him, which wouldn't have been a false accusation anyhow.

"…Fine," Kurapika replied. They headed into the house, knocking into each other on the way, following the sound of the wails up the stairs. Latched to each other like they were, fighting was out of the question really unless Kurapika used his chains, _whatever they are._ Regardless, Kuroro truly and completely found this venture useless. He wasn't helping Jasper, no matter how puppy-eyed Kurapika stared at him. And he could only barely be bothered to maybe help Juri. At most, he'd be willing to get her out of harm's way until the cops arrived.

The screams ended just as they reached their source. Kuroro opened his mouth to mention stealth, but the blonde barreled into the room, dragging him forward. Jasper lay in the center of the room covered in red. Above him stood Jasper.

Kuroro did a double take. _Jasper really is standing above Jasper._ Or what remained of him at least. It looked like someone had made a festoon out of his guts along the walls.

Kurapika opened his mouth, his brows scrunched together in a grimace. "What are you doing?" he said. But his wide eyes had focused on the Other Jasper.

"Probably should've warned you." Jasper turned to them wearing a slick grin. "That crazy chick was a shapeshifter."

"Lia?" Kurapika said.

The portly man nodded. "Yeah. I told you she was insane. This isn't the first time she's tried to kill me, but she got pretty damn close to accomplishing it this time."

"Where's your wife?" Kuroro asked, eying the man carefully. "And your daughter? I though you said you'd just met Lia on the train?"

"I told them to hide while I took care of this problem. I—"

Kurapika swung his chain at Jasper. It pierced his chest; the man lept back and let out a yell.

"I've placed a bond on your heart," Kurapika said. "If you break the rule I set, this chain will crush your heart. So this is your last chance to tell me the truth…my rule is that you must answer my question honestly. Where is Juri?"

"I locked them up downstairs. To keep them safe," Jasper said, but his voice tapered off at the end. He gasped and clutched his chest, before collapsing to the floor in a heap.

"That was pretty bad ass," Kuroro said. The blonde gave him a dark look. "What? I haven't seen you use that chain yet."

Kurapika shook his head. "You're an idiot."

Kuroro stepped over to Other Jasper and placed his fingers under his neck. _Is this Lia or did she get away somehow? Why isn't she reverting back to her old form? And where are Juri and Sarai?_ It was possible Other Jasper had lied about Lia being a shapeshifter and the real Lia had escaped, _but then who is this?_

"The cops will be here soon and you just murdered someone, so I'd say we leave before we get charged with double homicide." _Quadruple_ if the suspicion gnawing at the back of his mind was correct.

"We have to find Juri first," Kurapika said. "Let's try that basement place again."

He opened his mouth to argue, but something about Kurapika's expression made him shut up and follow him back downstairs into the dining room where they'd found that strange room before. Two figures were strewn across the table where not long ago they'd eaten.

Kuroro placed his hand on Juri's chest. _No pulse._ He moved over to Sarai. "Lia, or whatever that was, must have killed them both," he replied.

"Damn it!" Kurapika shook his head.

"Can we leave now? Because we are kind of stuck on an island where four other people are dead and we're not, which looks a little suspicious."

Kurapika sighed. "Yeah...let's go outside."

They hurried outdoors where several cop cars stared at them from the other side of the lake. The light hum of a boat filled the air.

Kurapika swung his chain across the water. It latched onto the canoe, which had drifted some distance away from them. "It's still fairly dark out, so we shouldn't be seen or heard if we circle around where the cops are…Like really far around where they are."

Kuroro shrugged, for lack of a better response. They moved the canoe as far from the coming police as they could, before clambering inside. Kurapika took the front for some reason, which left Kuroro to stare at his murky reflection in the dark water. He listened for any signs of Merlin, but the lake was flat and smooth, unbothered by the world around it.

* * *

 _Something_ about the book irked him as he sat in the train leaving Minj City. Taking a plane was out of the question, since they lacked the funds to do so and Kuroro could tell by the moody way Kurapika looked everywhere but at him that stealing was out of the question _for now_. So that left them with only one option, which was to take a train somewhere far away.

He flipped through the pages slowly, letting his fingers caress each page. The book brought to mind several hazy images and names, the most humorous of which was _Fun Fun Cloth._ But other things came to his mind too; people and places he'd presumably been. Faces too. But it was like his memories were below the surface of a muddy lake.

Kurapika's head bumped against the back seat of the train. His eyes were shut tightly as if sleeping. Suddenly, it hit him.

"This isn't real," Kuroro said.

Kurapika opened his eyes. "What?"

"This book is a fake. It looks like the real thing but...I have to conjure that one. Plus, it's missing the hand print." He held it up in front of him.

Kurapika glanced over at him, then at the book. The look on his face was convincingly befuddled. _Maybe he was telling the truth earlier…_ "How do you know that?" Kurapika asked.

"Guess I remember it. Somebody made this to look like mine, but it's not." There it was, on the surface of his memory. _Nen. Is that the key to remembering anything?_

Kurapika sighed. "Well, let me know if you remember anything else. Like something actually useful."

"It's kind of useful at least."

The blonde glowered at him.

Kuroro sat the book on his lap. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing."

"Clearly something," he replied. The blonde carried a dark cloud with him in general, but since Jasper's death that cloud had gone from gray to black.

He glowered at him. "You're an idiot. That's what's wrong with me. And I'm sick of being around you."

"Is this because of what happened at the house?" _Is he really still caught up on that? Sure,_ the death of a child was a sad, but nothing worth getting upset about for long. People died every day.

"No! Because if we had gone inside sooner, we might've been able to save them!"

"But you didn't know them," Kuroro said. "Why did you want to save them?"

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Kurapika's face steadily grew red, until he shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Does it not bother you at all? That a child was murdered along with her parents?" Kurapika asked, eyes closed.

"Should it bother me?" His question wasn't entirely innocent. Basic human empathy dictated that _it should._ But the fact that he didn't care, didn't bother him so much as the fact that Kurapika cared he didn't care, which made him think his lack of care was somehow wrong.

To his surprise, Kurapika cracked a smile. "I was having serious doubts that you were Kuroro, but now there's no doubting it." He shook his head. "I should just kill you right now and save myself the trouble."

He grinned at him. "Probably. But you'd be stuck dragging my corpse around for the rest of your life."

With a sigh, Kurapika snatched the book off his lap and studied it. "Why would someone make a fake book of yours?"

Kuroro thought about it for a minute. "Maybe I made it?"

"But why would you make a fake book?" Kurapika said. "Plus, Jasper clearly thought this was worth something…unless he was only tricked into believing it was."

"Or being petty, because we wanted it," he replied. "I don't know, but given what I do know about this book, I don't think someone else could replicate it...It's almost like it's unfinished though. It's missing the hand print but…shapeshifter."

Kurapika wrinkled his pale nose as he looked over at him. "What?"

"The riddler is constantly watching us somehow. They gave us this book because they we were coming up with dead leads. But both you and I would notice if someone had been following us for this long…unless it's not the same person."

Kurapika sat upright, finally looking somewhat interested. "Maybe that Other Jasper calling Lia a shapeshifter was another clue."

"That's what I was thinking too. Jasper wanted this book for some reason, so he had to know what it was." He frowned, looking down at the book. "But that would mean he knew who I was too…he didn't seem to recognize me. Maybe he really was just being trifling."

Kurapika sighed again. "We have to go back, don't we?"

"I'm afraid so," Kuroro replied.. "And now that I think about it, someone has been following us almost since the start of all this."

"Jasper."


	19. Chapter 19

**AN:** Sorry for not updating sooner. But at least I've been consistently updating every...three weeks? And thanks to anyone who left a review and is still reading! I'll try to update more consistently. Also, sorry for any and all grammar errors or continuity problems. I don't have a beta reader and I usually write these chapters like an hour before I post it, so I'm just kind of winging it.

* * *

 **Nineteen**

Kurapika pinched the bridge of his nose as he stood on the shore. From the looks of things, Jasper's house was still a full-blown crime scene _and unlikely to change anytime soon, great._ They couldn't even get near the house let alone inside, because of the droves of reporters and people standing behind a row of officers guarding lines of thin, yellow tape. Apparently, Jasper was somewhat of a well-known character around Minj City for several reasons, but most of all his ostentatious charity drives he held once a year for the community. News of his death had spread like wildfire in the last day.

He pinched the bridge of his nose again. Kuroro's theory, _though not entirely his_ , was an interesting one. _There is only one person we've encountered_ since their misfortune began. _But Jasper?_ Kurapika was no idiot; at no point had he sensed anything out of the ordinary about the man _other than he was generally sleazy. But he didn't deserve to die...neither did Juri…_ He pushed that thought away for a moment, focusing on the problem at hand: _how do we get back inside his house?_

And maybe it was presumptuous of him to think there was no one capable of concealing their Nen from him. _Maybe._

Inhaling sharply, his eyes grazed along the glistening, dark water. _We could wait until things die down_ , but by then the cops would've swept the place clean, _taken anything that might lead us to Kuroro's memories. Of course,_ that Jasper had anything to do with Kuroro was an educated guess at best, but this time Kurapika felt semi-good about their prospects of finding something, _anything_.

 _Speak of the devil,_ he glanced towards his partner. His earlier anger towards Kuroro had abated only slightly. Now that he was fully convinced _that man is Kuroro Lucilfer_ , the very man who'd murdered his family and clan, he was contemplating killing him. Right then and there, _chains be damned, I'll slit his throat._

"So I was thinking," Kuroro said, plopping himself down on the sandy ground. He looked out over the water, towards the house.

Kurapika glanced at him. "About what?"

"About food. I haven't eaten in a while and..." He motioned towards his stomach, which, growled loudly. "...I'm feeling a bit hungry."

Kurapika couldn't stop his eyes from rolling. "Seriously?"

"Are you not hungry?"

He jerked the chain connecting them slightly, but stopped short of pulling it too hard. "No, I'm not hungry." He resisted the urge to slap him. "How are you not at least slightly upset right now? About anything? Like, just pick something that's happened in the last seventy-two hours and get mad about it."

"Getting upset isn't going to solve anything." He patted the ground next to him. "Sit down. Take a deep breath. Your brain functions at like half its capability when you're annoyed."

Kurapika sat, but he didn't take a deep breath. Instead, he ran his fingers through the dirt, _sand, whatever this stuff is,_ taking a fistful of it and flinging it towards Jasper's house _._ "We need to get over there before the cops get rid of anything that could tie Jasper to you. We don't have time for deep breathing exercises."

"Disguise ourselves as cops?"

"With these handcuffs?" Kurapika wrinkled his nose. "Too bad neither of us can just teleport."

Kuroro gave him a look.

"…What? You can teleport places?"

Kuroro turned away, and looked up at the sky, which was beginning to turn gray with the rising of the sun. "We could probably bribe someone to get inside."

Kurapika shook his head. "Not everyone has low morals like you."

The taller man quirked an eyebrow. "But everyone has a price."

"With what money are you going to bribe someone with anyway?"

"Not mine, that's for sure." There was a wicked glint in his eye as he grinned.

Kurapika's brow snapped together. "No. You're not stealing anyone's money."

"Can you borrow money from someone then?" he asked. "I would, but I've no clue who my friends are…or if I even have any."

"Do I not count as a friend?" Kurapika replied barely above a mumble, and mostly by mistake. He didn't care what Kuroro thought of him actually, and he wasn't even sure why that came out of his mouth.

"Sure, but you don't have money."

Kurapika sighed, his mind wandering to one person who was stingy with his coin, but would likely have a good bit of it and would willingly lend it to him if he asked. He fished around his pocket. "Damn it! My phone's gone."

"As in it vanished into thin air?"

"As in I left it in Jasper's house probably. It must've fallen out my pocket..." He thought back to when he'd last used it. _The bedroom? Did I check the time? Or was it the basement?_

Kuroro frowned, his thoughts probably going the same place Kurapika's was. _I left evidence in Jasper's house._ "Let's hope it fell in the water and not in the house?" Kuroro offered.

He shook his head. "I would've noticed if it fell then. Great. Now we have to go back in there. The place is going to be crawling with cops even if we sneak in…we won't be able to do anything." And he frankly just didn't want to get into any more trouble with the law.

"That's why we bribe someone to get inside so we don't have to worry about that."

"You're not going to pickpocket people again, so how are you going to bribe someone?"

"There's no way we could pickpocket enough to bribe a cop. We need to rob something."

Kurapika held up his arms, so the handcuffs connecting them were on full display. "I thought we already discussed why doing stuff like that is a bad idea."

"Just trust me on this one," Kuroro said. "You can rob anything with the right attitude. And I have the perfect spot in mind."

* * *

Kurapika was actually surprised at how easily Kuroro was able to pick a lock; _like his fingers are made of keys or something._ He glanced behind him, at the empty alley-way they'd come down. He had no idea where they were or why they were breaking into what appeared to be a giant dumpster attached to the side of a brick building. "So what are we breaking into exactly?"

"Roe Mansion, five forty-seven Northridge…something like that."

He wrinkled his nose as he looked down at him. "What?"

"The address on the kitchen counter. In Jasper's place."

Kurapika gave him another look. "You're awfully observant."

"Try to be." The lock popped. "Got it."

"How'd you do that?"

"Hook I found."

 _He's awfully unforthcoming._ "So what is Roe Mansion?" he asked.

Kuroro straightened his back. "Apparently, it's where Senior Jove lives, whom Jasper sent a large sum of cash to last night, or the night before. In the amount of forty-three thousand dollars for…emergency savings." Kuroro jerked the door open. "It's an apartment complex, most likely."

"How do you know this?"

"It looks like an apartment complex?"

"No, how do you know that about Jove?"

"The paper on the kitchen counter, I caught of glance of it when we were leaving. Now come, on." He disappeared into the blackness inside.

The air smelled faintly of trash and other unpleasant things as he stepped through the door. What little light filtered in from outside vanished after he shut the door behind him. Bumping into Kuroro's back, he mumbled an apology. The chain jingled lightly and his foot hit something, which skittered across the ground. He bumped into the taller man's back again. But this time, Kuroro didn't move forward.

"What's wrong?" Kurapika said, his eyes belatedly adjusting to the dark.

"Another lock. Got a light?"

"No…where are we? Like what is this? Because this is not an apartment."

"Your guess is as good as mine." The lock hit the ground with a clang and the door swung open to reveal two men sitting around a round, wooden table. Smoke pooled around their heads; the air smelled faintly of trash and something sweet. The room was littered with plastic bottles, beer cans, bags, boxes, and crates. Several of which sat on the table in front of the man. One man hopped to his feet, and a few of the bags toppled to the floor and rolled towards them.

Two heads snapped in their direction. "Who the hell are you?" The standing man said. His head was shaved bald and it looked recent due to the shine coming off of it.

"Jasper sent me," Kuroro said, though oddly his voice lacked the usual calm assuredness it normally carried when he lied.

"Jasper's dead. Heard it about half an hour ago." The man stood up. Something glistened in his right hand. _A gun?_ But there was something else about them Kurapika didn't like. _Are they Nen users?_ Kuroro pushed him back slightly, and he had to refrain from rolling his eyes because _if anyone should be behind anybody it's him, not me._

"He's not actually," Kuroro said, stepping inside. "Are you Jove?"

"Senior Jove." The man with the gun sat it on the table and straightened his purple and blue striped tie. "You say Jasper sent you? For what?"

"For his emergency fund. He hopped town and he's short on cash."

Jove laughed, which prompted the other three men to laugh too. Jove's face fell and the laughter in the room died down. "Jasper, short on money?"

"I said cash, not money. Think we both know he's not hurting for money…Jove." Kuroro grinned.

"Why the hell should I believe you, kid?"

"No reason honestly, but he gave me this." Kuroro held up his book.

Jove looked around the room slowly. He came closer to him, then he started. "You brought your girl with you? You needed backup?"

Kurapika resisted the urge to gut him, or roll his eyes, instead settling on a glower in his general direction. He trusted Kuroro enough to not get him killed, _whatever stupid plan he's devised._ Though it was clear this was less plan and more chance.

"Well, we're kind of stuck together. She's also mute," Kuroro said, revealing the chains linking us. "So do you believe me, or not?"

"I don't believe you, kid." He lifted the gun back up off the table. "But, I'm in a good mood since Jasper skipped town." He chuckled, prompting the other two men to laugh as well. "I'll let you to walk away, but drop the book."

"What is that book anyway?" Kuroro dropped it on the ground.

"It's for...None of your business." Jove clicked his tongue, and flicked his wrist. Kuroro turned around, and the two of them went out. It was only when they were back outside that Kurapika noticed Kuroro had a bag in his arms.

Kurapika elbowed his side. Hard. "I hope that's money, otherwise that was a giant waste of time."

Kuroro opened it. "Money and…drugs it looks like."

"How did you get that?"

"It was open on the table," he replied. Then he went on to explain that somehow in the span of five seconds, he'd threaded a hook through some string he'd ripped off his jeans. When the door opened, he saw the money and swung the hook at it, dragging it to the ground and across the floor, luckily taking a few bags down with him. Since it coincided with one of the men standing up, he figured they hadn't noticed. And while the men had their eyes trained on him, he'd jerked the bag towards him. The reason he'd pushed Kurapika back was to conceal his moving arm actually, _had nothing to do with hiding you._

"But we probably have like one second before they realize it's gone, so let's go," Kuroro said.

Kurapika really had no response other than to go, because to praise him would be to praise illegal activities, which he did not approve of. They went back out onto the street as Kuroro counted the money. Wasn't the full amount as Jove and his men had clearly taken some amount, but _it's enough to bribe a cop with. Twenty-seven thousand._

"Lucky you," Kurapika said.

"What's the matter?"

"You're a bastard? That's what's the matter with me."

Kuroro's brow furrowed for a few seconds before he broke out into a tiny grin. "Sorry you're pretty, but it's better to just go with the flow in situations like that." He shoved a finger into his chest. "Besides, you're the one who doesn't' want to fight anyone. Would've been much easier if you would just go in there and take them out."

"Yeah…but there was something weird about the guys," he replied, thinking of his earlier uncertainty.

"You sensed it too?"

"Clearly." He shook his head. "So I guess now we bribe a cop."


	20. Chapter 20

**Twenty**

 _Officer Something_ shoved the roll of money in his front pocket. His beady eyes darted around, presumably quadruple checking that no one was in fact listening to him break his oath as a police officer sworn to uphold the law, even at the cost of his own life. Kurapika could _borderline_ not believe how low in morality this _officer of the law is._ It's not that he considered himself naïve, or stupid, or even naively stupid, but it just amazed him that the man had caved that easily and quickly.

Not that he believed the man's words though.

"Alright, one hour," Officer Somebody said. "That's it though."

"That's all we need," Kuroro replied.

"So it won't be easy to get you two across, but right now we're clearing the place out to wait for the Chief to come by. Then forensics or some shit is coming to look at the evidence, I can get you in during that window, and you'll have to be ready, with the rest of the cash in one hour, no later." The officer stuck his pale, freckled nose in the air and looked down at them, but his eyes drifted down to the chains connecting the two of them for maybe the fifth or sixth time in the last minute. Kurapika somewhat admired the fact that he hadn't inquired about them. _Yet._

"Thanks," Kuroro offered.

Kurapika shook his head, but refrained from saying anything when the cop's narrowed eyes settled on him. Any word, or even sound, that came out of his mouth was going to be in the form of something that immediately caused the cop to rescind his offer and arrest them.

So he bit down on his lower lip, and crossed his arms.

* * *

"That was unpleasant," Kurapika said, as they stepped onto the familiar, sandy shores surrounding the late Jasper's house. And _that is putting it lightly._

"Don't have to tell me that. Let's go," Kuroro said, moving across the sandy towards the door.

Despite Officer Something's promise that they had an hour to _find the keys to these handcuffs,_ Kurapika didn't really buy that. _Maybe thirty minutes at most,_ and that was only if the good cop of the law didn't sell them out right away, but waited to hide his bribe money first _._ But even the full hour wouldn't do them much good considering _we have no idea what we're looking for._

The floorboards groaned as they stepping into the hall way, the stairs creaked, even the sound of the clock ticking, which he hadn't noticed before, seemed unusually loud as they moved around.

"How are we going to hide our fingerprints or whatever else we leave here?" Kurapika asked, his eyes scanning around the dark hall. _Turning on a light will alert everyone that we're in here._

"Won't do much good." Kuroro's dark eyebrow went up in amusement. "We ate here, slept in a bed here…pretty sure we even showered here."

"Good point." They went into one of the rooms. _Empty._ "Let's start with Jasper's room."

They passed by several bedrooms, before finally deciding the one with the ornately decorated mahogany doors that read "Jasper" in large, golden, block letters was more than likely his room. The twin doors creaked as they pushed them open, and Kurapika only then realized how much his wrist was killing him. Really killing him; his hand began shaking in fact. _Damn it._ He shook the pain off and flipped on the lights, _so much for that idea._

"Holy shit," Kuroro said.

Kurapika's mouth fell open, was about all he could muster at the moment. It was like they had stepped into a giant shrine. _A giant shrine devoted to…the Spider._ Mugshots, wanted posters, even what looked like candid photos of various members of the Phantom Troupe were strewn along the walls, in picture frames, and along the floor. Collages, newspapers articles…Kurapika took a hesitant step forward, afraid he was walking into some kind of trap. But when he sent a subtle glance in Kuroro's direction, the man looked just as miffed if not a little disturbed. Probably because the majority of images, posters, newspapers were of him.

"Well either Jasper or his wife was your biggest fan," Kurapika said, with more humor than he intended.

"Apparently." Kuroro reached up and touched one of the newspaper articles on the wall near him. Kurapika stepped forward to get a closer look at it, but the taller man ripped the page off the wall and stuffed it into his pocket.

"What was that? Did you remember something?" Kurapika asked.

"No." He shook his head and pointed. "Look."

Kurapika looked behind him, at the mantle atop a fireplace. There lay a glass box, one that would have perfectly fit Kuroro's fake book.

"Your book…Jasper made it?"

Kuroro made a face. And it wasn't his usual, pretending-to-be-upset look, but a genuinely troubled expression. "Wish I knew. This is pretty weird though."

"Putting it lightly."

"Any idea where your phone is? We can take a few pictures of this stuff to look at later. I have a feeling our time here is pretty limited."

Nodding, he thought back to where he'd last seen it or used it. But lacking anything, they went looking for a wired phone, as unlikely as that seemed in this century, to call it with. _Even a cell phone will do,_ but he had a feeling he wasn't going to find one of those anywhere. There was none downstairs in the kitchen, or living room. Nothing in Jasper's room either or any of the remaining bedrooms, nor was his phone there; he was about to give up entirely when Kuroro noted a phone wire and followed it into Lia's… _lair, or whatever it was._ The weird paintings were still plastered on the wall, and Kurapika couldn't help but cringe at the thought of leaving tracks everywhere. _At this rate,_ even if he got the chains off, he'd done enough genuinely illegal and criminal things that he most certainly would need to use his status as a Hunter to cover his tracks now. And he could've stopped a murder. But if he thought about that for too long, he'd just get angry at Kuroro. _Again._

"What's your number?" Kuroro held up the phone.

"Give it to me." He held out his hand.

"Seriously?"

He spat the number out and held his breath, listening for Senritsu's melody. And he heard it. _That sounds awfully close…_ he looked over at Kuroro, who was wearing a smug grin as he shifted around his coat and pulled out the phone.

Kurapika snatched it, squeezing it in his palm. "Did you steal my phone?"

"Guess I forgot I had it." Kuroro shrugged, clearly lying. _Damn him._

Kurapika blew air out of his mouth. "You forgot—"

A loud noise, coming from somewhere below them, made him forget whatever scathing curse he was about to direct towards Kuroro. Sounded like a door banging open, but the noise quieted to clocks ticking on the wall and Kurapika figured they better take a second look at that room before they didn't have the chance any longer. They hurried down the hall way, shutting and locking the door to the bedroom behind them.

Swallowing his anger, he looked at what was around them. _Jasper knew who Kuroro was when we first met him…_ this was too bizarre. "Do you think Jasper…is the riddler? Or the fake Jasper was?" he asked.

"What're you thinking?" Kuroro asked.

"We saw Jasper a few times, when we first met him, the tracking device incident, both those times he really didn't seem to know who you were. But then you gave him the Eyes when we were at the communal house or whatever…wait a minute, the Eyes Jasper gave back to us. Do you still have them with you?"

"I don't even think I looked at them." Kuroro fished around his pocket for the small wooden box Jasper had given them along with the fake book. Inside were two glass boxes, and they did contain _scarlet circles?_ Kurapika pulled one out and studied it. They looked expensive, and were hard as diamond, but they certainly weren't Scarlet Eyes.

"So either Jasper cheated us, or he genuinely thought these were the Scarlet Eyes." Kuroro frowned. "Start taking pictures of this stuff. We gotta find a way out of here."

Kurapika snapped several pictures, and then the two of them decided to scale down the wall out the window, which turned out to be impossible given how high they were up off the ground _and the handcuffs_. Kurapika thought of jumping, but Kuroro was rather dubious about his ability to land _without breaking everyone bone in my body,_ plus they'd have to time their jump perfectly.

There was a knock on the door, and it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes they'd been in the house altogether.

"Police! Open up!"

Kuroro motioned up, and Kurapika nodded. He went out the large window first, standing precariously on the window's sill. He inched along, face pressed to stone, so Kuroro could stand next to him and shut the window, just as the door flew open. The roof was reachable, but they'd make too much noise getting up there. So they waited.

He couldn't see him, but he could tell it was Officer Traitor scouring the area by the high, irritating pitch of the man talking.

"I swear, I'm not lying," the officer said.

"You said the killer would be here?" Someone else said.

"I…I, they are! Check the closet and the bed."

"Man, I ain't checking nothing!" A door slammed.

"Damn it," Officer Somebody muttered. "Thought for certain they'd still be here…"

Then Kurapika's phone rung.


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: ** Just found out Hunter x Hunter is going on hiatus. Again. I'm bitter, but I expected this. Been a good two months or so. Also, sorry for not updating last week. Also, sorry this chapter is sort of fluff because I forgot the plot midway through writing it, but remembered it at the end kind of.

* * *

 **Twenty-One**

Kurapika scrambled to silence his phone as Senritsu's melody filtered lightly through the air for a few seconds before he managed to finally shut the infernal device off. And curse himself for his awful carelessness.

Kuroro was side-eying him with a look that was a cross between annoyed and amused. Mostly amused if his slightly-teasing grin was anything to judge by.

"I know you're over there!" Officer Someone said, soft footsteps padding towards the window. "Put your hands up! Now! Or I'll shoot!"

 _Fat chance._ Several ideas flashed through Kurapika's head, all of them resulting in more crimes being piled atop of what was becoming a mountain of vices. _I don't want to hurt a cop though,_ so he motioned to the roof.

Kuroro stared at him and mouthed _you sure?_ He wasn't, but he also wasn't about to try avoiding gunfire on the ledge of a window, twenty-some feet in the air. He looked up for something to grapple on to, finally finding a small nook his hand could fit into it. He pulled himself up, but somehow lost his footing and slipped.

With surprising speed, Kuroro grabbed him, and for the briefest of seconds he thought _wow, he's actually strong enough to stop me from falling,_ but then he seemed to lose his footing too and fell after him.

Kurapika swung his chain towards the house. It stuck, stopping his fall with a jerk that made both his hands ache. At least, it stopped Kurapika's fall. Having not used enough lenth, Kuroro's feet hit the ground below them with a thud.

"Ouch," Kuroro said, standing upright.

"Sorry," Kurapika said, landing next to him. "You okay?"

"Surprisingly yes though I'm pretty sure I should've broken a leg or two." As if to assure him, the taller man shot him a lazy grin and took a few steps in a circle on the sandy shore. And he did seem fine, so Kurapika decided not to worry about it too much. They used Officer Somebody's boat to get back to shore.

* * *

Once inside a motel, Kurapika flopped down on the bed, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. Not that he could get any sleep. Sleep was for the weak.

"Can I see your phone?" Kuroro asked.

He pointed to the nightstand. Kuroro seemed to make a point of leaning dramatically over him to pluck it up. And Kurapika pretended, eyes half-closed, that he wasn't studying the older man's grim expression intensely as he went through the pictures they'd taken. _This man is Kuroro Lucilfer,_ and while he had known that already, it still seemed a difficult thing to wrap his mind around. _What happens when he gets his memories back? What happens if the handcuffs don't come off?_

"Got anything?" Kuroro asked.

"About what? You're the one with the phone."

"Don't pretend you're not looking." He glanced down at him, and pushed the phone in his face. "Any ideas or anything, you know about the fact that I may have a stalker."

"Jasper's in love with you," he replied, pushing the phone out of his face. "There, I solved the mystery."

"Well, who could blame him?" Kuroro gave him a sly grin.

"Don't flatter yourself." He sat upright and took the phone from him. "But seriously, he had a shrine dedicated to you and the Troupe...there's no way you would not notice someone taking pictures of you though. All of you are extremely skilled Nen users; if someone was following you, even for a second you'd know." He thought back to his own memories of following the Troupe through Yorkshin with Gon and Killua. _Yeah, they would definitely know._

"Maybe Jasper can mimic someone's Nen?" Kururo said. "There were two Jaspers back there...maybe he had a twin?"

"Twins or shapeshifters, they're both dead now." But it was a thought. The men they'd given the fake book too seemed to know something, _but did they really?_ He got the impression they wanted the book just to have it, not because they knew its significance.

"When we first met Jasper...that bizarre museum..." Kurapika said. "Was that some kind of clue?"

Kuroro gave a shrug and fell back onto the bed, his head nestled atop the large pillow. "I don't know. It's possible Jasper, or whoever he is, was following me even before I lost my memory. Or vice versa."

"I just don't see how you wouldn't notice that though." He opened up his missed calls. Twenty-seven new voicemails _I should at least call Senritsu back…_

"Maybe I did notice," Kuroro said. "I can imagine thinking I could outsmart him."

"Kuroro Lucilfer biting off more than he can chew?" _Right,_ but then again Kurapika himself had been able to outsmart him, albeit using devious methods at best, despite not being more skilled in Nen than him. _It's entirely possible._ "What riddle did the riddler give us?" he asked.

"What goes up but doesn't come down." Kuroro frowned. "Smoke and mirrors."

"What?"

"Nothing. Was just thinking the riddler was smoking when we met him. Smoke and mirrors or hiding the truth with irrelevant or misleading information...which is exactly what keeps happening to us." His frown deepened and Kurapika was sure he'd never seen the man look quite this sober before. "Is there any more information on Jasper. Like what he does exactly?"

"Shipping company. Departure." But he was pretty sure most of what Jasper did was just a front for whatever shady, underground mess he was involved in. _Maybe mafia._

Kurapika pressed the phone to his ear and listened.

 _"_ _Hey Kurapika…just wanted to check on you. Uh not much is happening here, really. But Light is missing you badly. Apparently, one of his drug buddies just kicked the bucket and he's in disarray. You know the usual sketchy stuff and frankly it's no worst than his normal mental breakdowns. Anyway, give me a call when you get this. Just worried about you. Bye."_

"Girlfriend?" Kuroro asked, peering over at him curiously.

Kurapika set his phone on the nightstand. "No. My boss is having a panic attack, apparently…I wonder if Light knew Jasper," Kurapika said that last bit mostly to himself.

"Light?" Kuroro's eyebrows narrowed.

"My…boss. Sort of. Don't give me that look. I don't have a significant other, okay."

"Relax, okay. I'm not giving you any look, you're projecting." Kuroro shook his head.

He refrained from rolling his eyes, or saying something snappy, and instead picked up his phone and looked up Departure Shipping Company, a search that resulted in zero new information. The company shipped things, sometimes rare things, and the Hunter's website revealed Jasper liked to collect rare items for his wife and had brought a museum for her too, _nothing I didn't already know._ With a sigh, he sat the phone down again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think our problem is we're rather desperate to separate ourselves from each other, so anything that seems even remotely like it will lead us to my memories we go after," Kuroro said. "Instead of us pausing to think critically about it."

He could only nod at that, because what started this mess was lack of thinking. "So what do you suggest? This seems like an actual lead, one we should try to follow."

"Does it?" Kuroro gave his signature quirk of an eyebrow. And Kurapika could only shoot him an annoyed look, _because I'm pretty sure he knows what my answer will be._ But _smoke and mirrors._

"Okay, so let's assume this is a solid lead. What would be our first, natural step we'd take?" Kurapika asked, glancing at his phone. _Why do I keep thinking about Senritsu? Damn it._ "I guess…we'd more than likely either try to get that fake book back or find someone who knows what Jasper really does."

Kuroro nodded. "Which is why I'm going to suggest we do nothing for a little while. The riddler is watching us. If we don't do anything, he'll do something."

"What makes you so sure the riddler will act?"

"A hunch mostly, but I'm assuming that the riddler can't just keep us indefinitely chained together without it affecting him too and at some point he's got to reach his endgame, even if that endgame is just to mess with a couple of strangers," he said. "So let's say the riddler wasn't targeting us, we just got unlucky and ran into him, he might forget about us every, but he's bound to think of us at some point in time and check up on us. And being a riddler, his natural proclivity will be to egg us towards our goal. But the riddler knew I had lost my memories, meaning I encountered him at some point before meeting you."

"You think he's the reason you lost them?" Kurapika asked.

"Possibly...or he might just have some ability that allows him to know certain things," he replied.

Kurapika frowned. "Well I can't just sit here and do nothing, even if you're right, which I don't think you are."

"Then let's go out."

* * *

Going out to Kuroro meant trolling bars, which Kurapika found both interesting and tiring. Interesting in that _apparently the leader of the Troupe likes to drink,_ which he found surprising for several reasons. Namely because what little he knew about Kuroro Lucilfer, he seemed to be a man who liked control. Tiring in that Kurapika rapidly realized he was not cut out for the bar life, nor the odd stares they got attached together like some weird S&M couple

"Do you drink often?" Kurapika asked, sitting at a round, wooden table. _Has the chain gotten longer?_ He tugged on it slightly, then hid his arm under the table.

"Not sure," Kuroro replied. "You drink?"

"No. Drinking is unhealthy."

"Everything in moderation." Kuroro grinned at him, then flagged a waiter down and ordered two beers. _That's right, he stole a bunch of money._ He took a little comfort in knowing the stolen finds were from crooks, _but still._

Kurapika leaned back against his seat, feeling oddly relaxed. Which he could only take as a sign that things were about to take a turn for the worst. He eyed the beer served to them for a moment, before risking a tentative sip which he nearly choked on. "That taste awful," he said.

"It's an acquired taste," Kuroro replied, taking a swig from his own bottle.

The silence settling between them was not the comfortable kind, oddly enough. Because despite all the time spent together, they hadn't really spent much time together. And Kurapika was still trying to ignore the fact that Kuroro really was Kuroro, because what bothered him more than anything that had happened to him thus far was that he didn't really mind that Kuroro _is actually Kuroro,_ which sounded a bit like blasphemy.

"What'd you grab from Jasper's room?" Kurapika asked, nestling his beer in his hands. He wanted to at least give the appearance of drinking.

Both eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb."

Kuroro took a long drink from his bottle, nearly emptying it. He dropped the bottle on the table with a clunk. "Part of an article I thought might be useful, but I threw it away by mistake."

"Oh." He risked another sip. _Still gross._

Several beers later, Kuroro was by all appearances no drunker than he had been at the start of the night, even walking upright without any apparent issues back to their motel. And Kurapika did feel slightly less stressed out in general, if not a little tipsy.

"I have to make a phone call," he said, sitting down on the bed.

"Want me to plug my ears?" Kuroro reached up and covered both ears with his hands.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Senritsu. "Just don't look at me. Or make any noise."

Kuroro snorted, but turned his head towards the sole window in the room. The phone rang a few times before she answered.

"Kurapika!" She sounded far too excited for the late hour. "Wow, I honestly didn't think you'd call me back."

"Well, I did." _Inhale. Don't be rude to her_. "So what's going on with Light?"

"One of his friends died earlier in the week, so he's just having a moment. Particularly now that you aren't around," she replied. "You really are his crutch."

"I did tell him I was leaving." _Sort of._

"Yeah…I didn't call to talk about him though," she replied, sounding sullen. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing much, honestly. I haven't had much luck with the Scarlet Eyes." He hoped the lie sounded as smooth to her ear as his own, but the fact that Kuroro snorted made him think _probably not._

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Who's what?"

"Come on, you know I have super hearing. Someone snorted."

Kurapika cleared his throat, and Kuroro shot him a _you're-not-doing-a-very good-job_ look. "I'm guessing it's room service, who just left." He put a finger to his lip.

"Oh okay," she said, sounding anything but convinced. "Well…just wanted to check on you. If you need anything, let me know."

"Sure thing," he said. "By the way, who was Light's acquaintance? And how badly will it hurt his business."

"Won't make things any better, that's for sure. And it's Sachiko…something."

"Jasper?"

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Uh….I was following a lead on the Scarlet Eyes and it led me to him- where he lives."

"Oh. Well, apparently someone killed him in his mansion. Light's worried because he isn't the first of his inner circle to have been murdered recently."

"Meaning?" he asked.

"Uh…I just mean since you left, well before you left but you weren't paying attention, a string of Light's cohorts and their families were murdered violently in their homes," she replied, her voice sounding sober. "Light is worried he's next. When you left, he had another bad mental breakdown. Not that I'm trying to guilt you into returning. I support your decision to leave, but…it's just been not that much fun."

 _Interesting._ "Any idea on who might have killed Jasper?"

"Light thinks it's someone wanting to get revenge on them, but aside from the fact that they're all tied to the mafia, there's nothing really connecting them. They might all be in the Ritz Clan, but that's about it," she replied. "We've been looking into it."

Kurapika glanced at Kuroro. "I have to go, but thanks for the information. Could you do me a favor and send me everything about these murders you have?"

She let out a heavy sigh. "Only for you."

"I appreciate it."

"Pick up your phone…Kurapika." With that, she hung up.

Kurapika grimaced, mostly to himself, then explained to Kuroro what was going on.

* * *

That morning, they went to a library for lack of anywhere else that had access to the Internet.

"I can buy you a laptop," Kuroro said, as Kurapika logged into his e-mail address.

"I don't want your stolen goods," he replied. _One-hundred eighty-seven unread e-mails. Great._

"I didn't say steal, I said buy. But I can do that too."

He shot him a dark look. "No!" An old lady with silver hair next to them grunted loudly. _Damn, I can't wait to get these off of me._ His wrist ached and the red bracelet on his skin was getting brighter each day.

Senritsu had sent him some things last night, which he perused through quietly while Kuroro read a book he'd plucked off the shelf. _So he likes to read…?_ He shook himself and re-focused. There wasn't much. Light and some coworkers of his, including Jasper, had screwed someone out of a black market trade a month or so ago. Then, one by one, they began dying. All in a similar manner, murdered in their own homes alongside their entire families. The only thing connecting them besides their unfair deal, was the fact _that each body was found alongside a doppelgänger, which disappeared shortly after being discovered._

"Read this," Kurapika said

Kuroro looked at the screen for a few seconds. "Interesting. So Jasper feat Light and crew screwed someone out of money and…think they've been cursed or something?"

"Sounds like it," Kurapika replied. And it certainly was within the realm of possibility. "How is that connected to you though?"

"Maybe it's not?"

The lady grunted again eying him and dropped a book on the floor, so he motioned for Kuroro to follow him to the history section of the library. He plucked a book off the shelf, opened it, and lowered his voice. "Maybe."

"Maybe Jasper was tracking me," Kuroro said, voice near a whisper. He leaned closer to him. "Maybe he thought I was the one killing his cohorts. I wonder how recent those pictures of the Troupe and me are."

Kurapika could only sigh. "Only one way to find out."


	22. Chapter 22

**AN** : Sorry I didn't update last week. TT Double sorry for the grammar errors. It's what happens when I rush.

* * *

 **Twenty-Two**

That afternoon, Kuroro dreamed for the first time in a while.

It wasn't an interesting dream and when he awoke from his woefully, short nap a few hours later, he didn't remember a thing about it. But it was significant because he actually slept. For longer than thirty minutes at once. Something he hadn't done since losing his memories.

Often, around Kurapika, he pretended to sleep and sometimes he would even lightly doze off during rare moments of true relaxation for a few moments. But he had slept deeply for three hours straight and woken up to Kurapika sitting next to him, browsing through a book he'd checked out from the library earlier this morning.

"You awake?" The blonde looked down his nose at him.

"Do I look asleep to you?" he asked.

Kurapika shook his head. "Time's wasting. Let's go check out the pictures."

He rolled out of bed, smoothed out his hair with his free hand, and they clumsily made their way down the hall. They hailed a cab; the driver stared at them comically as Kurapika slid across the seat and Kuroro came in behind him. He shut the door.

"It's my kink," Kuroro offered, with as serious a face as could be procured. And Kurapika hit his leg hard with the tip of his shoe.

The driver's face turned crimson. "Where to?"

Kurapika gave him the address and the cab surged forward.

And Kuroro yawned, his mind thinking of sleep again. Actually, he did remember a bit about his dream. Or maybe he was remembering things in general and confusing it with dreams.

And it wasn't necessarily pragmatic for Kuroro to be lying to Kurapika about his memories, but he actually recalled a lot more than he was letting on. The main problem was he wasn't recalling who he was; he just remembered things he assumed were associated with his identity. Like he remembered now that he was the Leader of the Phantom Troupe, and that he had coworkers, or friends, or cohorts _or something_. _Machi...Nobunaga..._ and more. And that he had met Kurapika before, under not quite as pleasant circumstances as these.

But those things meant nothing to him really, like he was watching them unfold on a television. Like they were the memories of someone else.

"So why are we going to the police station?" Kuroro said, shoving his free hand in his jacket pocket. The air was unnaturally warm and muggy, but there was no way for him to take off his outer garment without inconveniencing the blonde and himself. _I really should cute myself out of this hoodie._ In fact, the longer he dwelled on the idea, the more appealing it became. "Not that I don't trust your judgment, but I don't want to be surprised if we're turning ourselves in or something."

"I'm going to use my Hunter's License to get us access to the evidence in Jasper's house. There's only one police station here, so I'm assuming this is where it got sent," he said. "Unless we're too early."

"Oh."

"I don't want to use it," Kurapika said, as if trying to convince himself and not Kuroro.

"I don't care," Kuroro replied, giving a slight shrug. "I'd just as soon break in and steal everything if you'd let me."

"Typical." But the blonde didn't roll his eyes, and he even looked slightly amused as he faced the window. Kuroro paid the driver when they arrived, even giving him a large tip in the form of half their remaining money, because he could always steal more. Then they stepped into the Minj City police department. Kurapika moved his chained hand behind his back as they approached the front desk and Kuroro nearly snorted because _what good will that do?_

Officer... _what was his name again standing in the lobby? The cop we bribed._ But it was with surprising speed that Kurapika whipped out his Hunter's License and announced their reasons for being there to the receptionist. They were looking into a string of murders for his boss, Light Nostrad, and they thought Jasper's case might be connected.

And like that, they were whisked into a small conference room and a box was sat on the table in front of them with two pairs of thick gloves. Kurapika sat first and Kuroro sat beside him, moving the chain a bit so it wasn't in the way.

"Don't give me that look." Kurapika jerked the gloves on and pulled the lid off the box.

"I'm not giving you a look." Kuroro kept his eyes on the box.

Kurapika began pulling things out and slapping them down on the table. "I can feel you giving me a look."

"Yeah well that was much easier than bribing a cop. Just saying," he said, ignoring the glower the younger man shot him. He pulled the gloves on and lifted out a stack of photos sealed in a plastic bag. Going through them one by one, some of them seemed fairly dated like they had been taken a year or two ago. His hair seemed shorter, or longer. But others were more recent, or at least appeared to be. Kuroro was honestly none the wiser and Kurapika seemed just as miffed. The jacket was there too, the one they'd found at the thrift shop. The photographer clearly had made some effort to conceal his tracks in terms of when the pictures had been taken, usually from a distant and clearly they had been zoomed in. They were all taken with the same sort of camera, and all had a strange, grainy filter on them.

The pictures themselves revealed nothing really. Most were candids of him walking down a street, sitting somewhere, some by himself and some with others. It really _does give the appearance of a stalker..._

"Got anything?" Kurapika said.

"Not really." He picked up one of the pictures and pretended to study it for a minute. _Smoke and mirrors. Some stuff is missing..._ but it was hard to tell just what. He placed the picture in the bag. "Can I see your phone?"

Kurapika slid it across the table.

"You put a password on it?"

"4004."

He typed in the number and went through the pictures they'd taken, comparing it to the evidence in the box. There was a lot more stuff in the room, but none of it looked particularly important, like it would lead them anywhere or to anything.

And he was beginning to think that no matter how many random pieces of the puzzle they discovered, it was going to be the entire picture that made him really remember who he was, a moment he was looking forward too. On the whole, he didn't mind this adventure because Kurapika wasn't the worst person he could be stuck to. It was the _not really knowing who I am_ part that irked him.

"So what'd you take out of Jasper's room?" Kurapika asked, staring at him from across the table.

Kuroro sat the phone on the table. "Not important."

"Says who? I won't tolerate you hiding something from me that could lead us to getting separated." Kurapika's stare darkened to a glower.

"I don't know really." That was a lie. "It just seemed a bit familiar to me, but now I don't think it was."

"So why won't you just tell me what it is?" Kurapika asked, an edge to his voice.

"Because." And that was that. The blonde might've thought he could strong-arm him, but for once Kuroro was going to hold his ground. An inkling in the back of his mind told him what he found would make him angrier than not telling him. Or it might evoke a different emotion in him; one Kuroro didn't want to deal with. Either way, he was resolving to resolve himself not to cave, even under the blonde's inky gaze.

Kurapika dropped something on the table with a thud. A photo or folder. But Kuroro pressed his lips together and tried to think of what they would do with the information they had now. Any way to change the subject.

"Why won't you just tell me what it is?" he said.

Kuroro scratched his chin. _Maybe I should tell him..._ After all, why did he care about hurting Kurapika's feelings? He stifled a sigh and pulled out the news article he'd nabbed, sliding it across the table.

Kurapika picked it up, reading it carefully. His face went a little pale and he sat the paper on the table.

Somehow, Kuroro did not say _does that answer your question_ and really it was a sign the blonde was rubbing off on him in a good way, because it was the first thing that came to his mind. Instead, he cleared his throat and decided to see if Kurapika said anything first.

"Oh," Kurapika said, slumping down in his seat slightly.

"I don't remember anything about it," he said. "But...I sort of put two and two together." Being that he was a member of the Phantom Troupe and that Kurapika had been more interested in the Scarlet Eyes than seemed reasonable.

"Okay," he said.

"Are you upset?"

"What do you think?"

He opened his mouth, then mentally slapped himself across the face before the words flew out. "Sorry. You can have one of my fingers for penance if you want."

"What?" The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"I mean after we separate." He placed his hand on the table, palm down. "Pick a finger. Any finger. And cut it off."

Kurapika snorted. "You only say that because you don't know who you are."

"Well, we won't know until I get my memories back," he said. "Plus you didn't reject my offer." He started to shuffle the pictures around in an effort to get his mind away from the fact that he'd murdered Kurapika's entire clan for some reason.

And it worked after a few seconds.

Everything they had so far pointed to Jasper, which was beginning to look suspiciously obvious. Like the riddler decided to drop a bunch of clues on them, knowing they would put them all together and lead to one, _very obvious conclusion:_ that Jasper was related to his memory loss somehow. But that could just be reverse psychology making him paranoid; that he really was just thinking too hard and the answer was right in front of them.

"This means nothing to me, so unless you remember something about someone following you, we might as well forget about it," Kurapika said, taking his gloves off and dropping them on the table.

"I do," he said.

"What?" Kurapika sat upright,

"I remember someone following me," he said. He took one of his gloves off, folded it, and put it down.

"You...you remember stuff! Why haven't you said anything?"

"Not stuff, I just remembered something when you mentioned it." Partial truth. He'd remembered that name long ago, when he first heard it, but it meant nothing to him then and still didn't.

Kurapika leaned towards him. "Well who is it?"

* * *

The blonde pressed the phone to his ear, glowering at him all the while. They were standing outside the police station on the sidewalk.

"I didn't say you had to call him," Kuroro said, watching a car blow past them. "Just said the name Hisoka was familiar to me."

"He won't even pick up. Probably changed his number by now."

"So why are we calling him?"

"Because chances are if anyone was following you, he would know. Because he was probably stalking you too." Kurapika crinkled his nose and pulled the phone away from his ear. "Not probably, he was for sure. And the number's no longer in service."

"Was worth a shot." He shrugged. A second car flew past them, easily going way above the speed limit.

"Should we head back to the motel? I really want to cut myself out of this pullover." Kurapika said. The wind picked up suddenly, and it came as a welcomed relief because the late evening sun was making everything hotter than normal. "Hey, it's a needle." Kurapika pointed at the ground.

Kuroro looked down and seeing nothing, sent the blonde a quizzical look. Kurapika dropped to the ground and plucked something up off the conrete. A silver needle.

"Is there a string attached to it?" Kuroro said, remembering something from earlier. _Wasn't there a needle attached to me?_

Kurapika began walking somewhere and Kurapika followed him. They went down the street for a minute, then turned down a small, residential block. They went up to a house with yellow painted bricks.

"Welcome!" A small boy burst the door open. "Step right inside."

"No," Kurapika said. "What is this?"

"Minj City Museum, sister to the famous Up and Down Museum!"

"Really?" Kuroro said. Now that was interesting. He cast a glance at Kurapika, who was busy glowering at the bpy.

The kid nodded. "Yeah, you found one of our famous needles."

"What do you mean famous needles?" That was Kurapika, holding up the needle. "This is yours?"

The boy grinned at him sheepishly. "Yeah...my boss puts them around for people to find sometimes. He likes to play riddles and jokes, and sometimes the needles are like a puzzle, but they all lead to one of our museums."

"Who's your boss?"

"Well, sadly he passed away the other day." The boy looked down at his feet. "Mr. Sachiko and his family were killed, but he sold his place just before he died so I still have a job."


	23. Chapter 23

**AN:** Many thanks to the reader who pointed out the plethora of grammar errors in the previous chapter. I got no beta and I just get lazy TT. Any who, I went back and spruced up the last chapter (edit: twice - I spruced it up twice) if anyone is incredibly bored and wants to re-read it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

* * *

 **Twenty-Three**

To Kurapika's foggy brain, there was something overly obvious about what was happening right now. It was like the riddler had led them here, or maybe the hand of fate had, _but nonetheless_ everything was coming together a little too perfectly.

"What do you know about those needles?" Kurapika asked the young boy, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

"Nothing much..." The boy looked at the handcuffs, small eyes narrowed in suspicion. But after a moment, he looked up at him and smiled widely. "So you two coming inside to take a look around? The price is six-thousand Jenny, it's dirt cheap. You can't beat our prices anywhere else in the world."

He glanced up at Kuroro, who shrugged.

"Sure," Kurapika. _Worth a shot, I guess._ Not that he thought they'd find anything here.

The boy led them to a small counter, where he rang them up at a cash register sitting inside small, poorly lit lobby before handing them two, neon green tickets. They were ushered through a set of double doors into... _a museum?_ A regular museum full of other visitors and all. No strange body parts hung on the walls, no people locked in cages. Not what he expected, but _what was I expecting?_

"This doesn't seem right," Kuroro said.

"You don't seem right either," Kurapika said, mostly by accident as he'd meant to keep that thought inside his head.

"I'm not going to disagree with you there."

"It's a joke." Kurapika glanced up, to give the man a glower, but Kuroro was already looking elsewhere. They were standing by a row of what looked like old vases, full of chips and cracks and utterly plain in appearance.

"Well, since we're here, might as well make a date out of it," the taller man said.

He furrowed his brow. "No."

"It's a joke." He waved him forward, and pushed past a group of people who were gawking at the chain hanging between them. And again, Kurapika could do little more than glower in their general direction until they looked away. But his face was slowly heating and something that could only be described as embarrassment crept up his neck. Quite a bit of time had passed since the two of them had actually been somewhere crowded and public like this. And while the expressions on the onlookers faces ranged from mildly surprised to wholly amused, he still felt more embarrassed than he should have, and as such he scurried after Kuroro's retreating form, walking as closely to him as possible to conceal as much of the chain as he could.

The two of them meandered to a section of the museum that housed one of the world's oldest books. _Apparently,_ though a part of him didn't doubt that Jasper's collection was genuine, he'd never heard of the _Jobi Codex_ before.

"You like to read?" Kurapika asked, staring at the tome encased in glass before them.

"I think so," Kuroro replied, humorously.

Kurapika wrinkled his nose.

"Nah, I'm sure I do," he replied, giving him a small grin. He nudged his shoulder and they moved on to where the artwork was. "I've been itching to visit a library in fact, a real one not these fake city ones, but it's a bit difficult to do anything attached to you."

"We can visit one," Kurapika replied. "I mean...I know of a one close to where I work. It's housed in what used to be a castle, but the man who owns it now lets people visit for free. I've wasted hours there."

"If we're still stuck to each other tomorrow, let's go."

Kurapika glanced at a painting in front of him. It was a picture of a woman smoking behind a window. "Alright."

"Bet."

"What?"

"How much you want to be we'll still be stuck together tomorrow?" There was an amused twinkle in the taller man's eye.

Kurapika raised an eyebrow. "I won't demand one of your fingers as recompense if we're still stuck together tomorrow."

Kuroro grinned. "Alright. You can have my entire hand if we're not."

"Deal." He turned his attention back to the painting, but mostly only to keep himself from smiling in front of Kuroro. _Be angry, be annoyed._ But it just wasn't in him at the moment. And really, Kurapika had no intention of taking any of Kuroro's fingers, even once he gained his memories.

 _Maybe._

They meandered around for a little longer, but finding nothing, they went outside. But the needle pricked at his thoughts as Kuroro tried to hail a taxi; _it's entirely possible that has nothing to do with us._ If the kid back there was telling the truth and Jasper had put random needles in various places, then it really meant nothing. He thought back to the first needle he'd seen, but for some reason his memory drew a blank. _Was it stuck to him? Or did I just find it on the floor?_

"So where to next?" Kurapika asked. "Should we look into Jasper some more?"

"Jasper kind of has the feel of a red herring," he replied. "But I can't decide if I'm just thinking too hard or if something's up. Regardless, I think we've spent enough time in Minj City."

"We could go …" _Actually,_ they couldn't. Kurapika had been living in the Nostrade Mansion for the most part, not seeing any reason to waste money by renting out an apartment nearby when Light didn't need him. And there was no way in hell he was going back home like this. He wouldn't even be able to explain himself really, because saying _I stumbled upon him and decided to help him gain his memories back_ didn't even sound believable to his own mind.

 _Why did I help him out?_ Why didn't he just leave him somewhere to rot? Or kill him on the spot?

"We could just visit that library," Kuroro said, bumping into his shoulder. Another taxi drove by them, making it the third or fourth. "Unless your thoughts have already taken you somewhere else."

He shook his head. "Sorry. Do you have money for a plane ticket, because we got here via plane." But the look Kuroro gave him answered the question. He didn't have the money now, but he could get it.

* * *

Glancing out the window of the cab, he tried to swallow his ire before speaking.

"That's the last time I'm letting you steal anything from anyone, criminal or not," Kurapika said softly, more to himself than to Kuroro. "Seriously, you gave away all that money you took from those men? When?"

Next to him, Kuroro shrugged. "It's just money. And I don't know. I think to one of our cab drivers."

And because there was really no good answer to that statement, Kurapika kept his eyes on the buildings blurring as they drove by them. The sun had just risen, and a few tendrils of red still clung to the sky. This was where everything started, at least not very far from here, so in theory coming back was a good idea, but he still had no idea where to go next.

"We're here," the driver said, peering at him through the rearview mirror.

Kuroro paid him and they clamored out of the vehicle as awkwardly as they'd gotten inside.

"So that library is there?" Kuroro said, one they'd climbed out of the taxi. They were standing at the base of a small cliff, atop of which sat the dark castle. Being so early, almost no one was heading up the small, rocky path which was exactly what Kurapika was hoping for.

Kurapika nodded. And they walked up the small road leading up to the castle. Inside resembled a castle little. It was more like a small art museum, if it could even be called that. The owner greeted them cheerfully in the way he greeted everyone who came to visit him. The two of them went up to the second floor, where the man's ever-growing library sat. And it was just as drafty and bright as Kurapika remembered it being.

"Can we touch the books?" Kuroro asked. He seemed to be in much better spirits since Kurapika had cut him out of his dirty hoodie.

"Yeah…it's a library."

Kuroro ran his fingers along the bookshelf. "Neat. It just looks really…"

"Pristine and old?"

"We think alike."

"It's just what I thought when I first came here," he said, plucking a book off the shelf. Rarely did Kurapika look for specific books to read any more, mostly he just grabbed whatever was closest to him and began reading. Not often did he stumble upon a book that offended his sensibilities, and even then he made a point to finish whatever he started.

"What do you like to read?" Kuroro said, peering over his shoulder.

"Anything. I guess I prefer historical books and…" He frowned slightly.

"Adventure stories?" he ventured. "I'm not judging. For all I know, I might enjoy reading sappy romances."

"I doubt that." Kurapika shot him a look. "Are you child? Pick a book already."

The older man pouted slightly. "I want to look around first."

They spent some time perusing each section, before Kuroro finally narrowed down his choices and selected something on gardening, _really?_ Then they found a small corner and sat. It had been a while since Kurapika had read and even longer since he'd read with another human being. Strange, but eventually his body and mind relaxed and he was lost between the pages of—

"Kurapika?"

His head shot up and met a familiar face. Though, the voice was one he would've recognized voice anywhere and _really what are the chances?_ In all the time he'd known her, Senritsu had never once taken him up on his offer to go to the library.


	24. Chapter 24

**AN:** Sorry, I haven't updated in a bit. I go to upload, but I'm not happy with the chapter and I try to, even if sporadically, upload a good chapter rather than a not-so-great one more often (not at all saying this is a good chapter). I'll try to update more regularly. TT

* * *

 **Twenty-Four**

"Don't turn around," Kurapika hissed.

Sitting across from him, Kuroro shot quizzical look his way, but shoved the book he was reading in front of his face nonetheless.

"Hey!" Senritsu said, approaching him slowly and grinning from ear to ear. "It's been a while since I've seen you. I thought you were out of town for good?"

"I was but…I came back," he said. "How've you been?"

"Well enough and you...?" Her narrowed eyes drifted towards Kuroro obscured face. "You…make a new friend?" There was a note of hesitation in her voice, and for a minute he thought to play this off as two strangers sitting next to each other by chance. But Senritsu, _of all people_ , would be able to keep calm if told the truth. Plus, she would likely be able to detect his lie, if not from the inflection in his voice, then from the fact that they knew each other too well. _Still…maybe it's worth a shot._

Kurapika cleared his throat.

"From the look on his face, we've probably met already." Kuroro lowered the book and smirked at her.

Senritsu's mouth dropped, which would have been comical in another situation. She stared at Kuroro solidly, her expression morphing from surprise to suspicion, and he could see her mentally trying to figure out _why the hell are they together?_

"It's not what you think," Kurapika managed after a few seconds, though he wasn't even sure what he meant by that.

"We're kinda together," Kuroro said a second later. Kurapika tossed the book he'd been reading at his head, more out of instinct than malice, which the man easily caught between his fingers and sat on the small table between them. Then he lifted up the chain between the two of them.

"We're stuck together," Kurapika said.

Senritsu's gaze moved to the chains. "What the hell is going on?"

* * *

"So…you don't remember you who are, and you decided to help him out of goodwill?" Senritsu's eyebrows went up. The three of them had relocated to the most obscure café they could find, which wasn't far from the library. And Kurapika had related the story of his woes to her as truthfully as possible while Kuroro appeared to do everything in his power to interrupt him at every opportunity.

 _Seriously, quit it._ Kurapika kicked his leg lightly under the table, but the man spoke anyway.

"Not even my own name," Kuroro said, shake his head with an air of theatrics. "Don't recall a single thing."

Senritsu glowered in his direction for the third or tenth time in the last five minutes, but her gaze mellowed when she met Kurapika's eyes. "Well he's not lying, though I'm sure you checked that already."

Kurapika sighed. "Thoroughly, don't worry. He's been vetted."

"…This is unfortunate." She cast a sidelong glance at Kuroro. "I mean this whole situation is really, but that part in particular. Why did you come here though?"

"To visit the library," Kuroro said, as if that explained it all.

Kurapika opened his mouth, but _we really are here just to visit the library_. Having been stuck to Kuroro for ages, the older man's presence had become less of a nuisance. He'd forgotten how bizarre this would look to anyone who knew how much he hated the Phantom Troupe.

He found himself sinking down into his seat, slowly, as he considered what to say next. "That's pretty much the reason," he said.

"I mean…I really do not know what to say to that," Senritsu said, blinking rapidly. "Uh…I…you seem to be holding up well…all things considered. You look nice-good-healthy."

"You know I can stand outside for a bit. I think the chain's been getting longer, weirdly enough," Kuroro offered, rising to his feet. "So the two of you can catch up?"

"Why don't you?" Kurapika said. "If you don't mind. It's kind of chilly out there."

"I have a jacket. Not that I can put it on." Kuroro smirked as he went to stand just outside the glass door. The café was empty enough that only the waiter/cashier stared at his back, glancing between him and the two of them at the table. The chain was taut and Kurapika placed his hand on the table, before moving to the seat closest to the door to alleviate the pain tugging on his wrist.

"Kurapika, what the hell is going on?" Senritsu said. "Why are you attached to the leader of the Phantom Troupe?"

"We can't get these off!"

"Seriously?"

"I swear there's no other reason I would be with him," he said. "Short of cutting one of our hands off, we've tried everything to remove them."

Senritsu pursed her lips together and leaned back against her chair. "Is there some mental hang-up keeping you from cutting your worst enemy's hand off?"

"If I thought it would work, I…would've done that already." Partially true. He was certain either their wrists would turn to stone, or he'd keep missing the mark. But he also, at this point at least, wouldn't be able to do it without feeling a little guilty.

"I'm not lying." He frowned. _Why is she giving me that look?_

"I don't…" She glanced out the window, where Kuroro's back was pressed against the door. The wind made the chimes on the door jingle melodically. "I believe you, I just….how are you going to get them off? When are you going to get them off? Is this why you ran away so suddenly?"

"No, I really went to find the Scarlet Eyes. And I'll get them off when we find his memories…the riddler will remove them for us." At least, _I think that's the case._ He was actually having trouble recalling what the riddler said about removing them.

"The riddler tricked you both? And you don't know who he is?"

"Yes," he replied, nodding. "No, we don't know who he is. Look, I get this seems crazy, but that's what happened. Kuroro had lost his memories before we ran into the riddler and I was half-convinced at the time that he was just someone who looked a lot like him. Now, I know it's him but he still isn't fully recovered."

"I…I just don't really know what to say." But she smiled at him. "It's weird though, his heart doesn't even sound like the same man as before. And you aren't lying either. Sorry, I've just been a little worried about you."

"He's definitely not the same," Kurapika assured her. _Not even close._ He looked at Kuroro's back. "And I appreciate it, but you don't need to be worried about me." Finally, catching Kuroro's eye, we waved the man back inside.

"It's cold." He sat down at the table. "Are we getting anything to eat or did we just come here to chat?"

"I'm Senritsu by the way," she said, giving him a look.

"Kuroro."

"I know."

"Does seeing her jog your memory?" Kurapika ventured, trying to change the topic.

He shook his head, but it was almost too quickly. "Nope."

 _I'm probably just reading into things too much._

"So what's your plan of action?" Senritsu asked, and it was apparent by the look on her face that she was also trying to change the topic.

But truly there was no legitimate reason for them to have made the trek here other than pleasure. However, voicing that out loud would only drive home the fact that he wasn't bothered by Kuroro's presence, a concept that was difficult for him to rationalize. But if he made something up, stumbling and stuttering over his words, Senritsu would only worry. Likely, she thought Kuroro had brainwashed him or something and attached them together as punishment anyhow.

"There really is no reason we're here," Kuroro said, placing his elbows on the small, wooden table. "We partially came to see if we could get the riddler to come out of hiding by ignoring him, not because we have any leads on his memories."

Kurapika nodded.

"Oh?" Senritsu said. "Do you have any sort of theory?"

Kurapika shrugged when Kuroro glanced his way. _If you have a theory,_ now was the time to share it.

"Our theory is that he's following us. Maybe not all the time, but enough that he generally knows what we're doing, where we are, and whether or not we're getting any closer to whatever he wants." Kuroro's eyes narrowed and something like a grimace was pulling down at the corner of his lips. "But something we've never really confirmed is whether or not my memory loss actually has something to do with the riddler. Does he simply know how I lost them or was he the direct cause?"

"Your memory was gone before you encountered the riddler together," Senritsu said. "Do you think he was the cause?"

He shook his head once. "Nah."

"What?" Kurapika sat upright. "What do you mean nah?"

"As in no. It's like slang or whatever you want to call it."

"No I mean why are we just having this conversation? Why didn't you mention this before?" Kurapika took a deep breath, inhaling slowly and exhaling sharply.

"Relax alright," he said. "We're having it because I only thought of it recently and it's just a theory, I've nothing to back it up with and didn't remember anything. But I'm starting to think the riddler has nothing to do with my memories. He never said so, only that we were cursed to stay together until my memories were restored. I'd wager he knows something about it, maybe was around when it happened, or maybe he's got some special abilities that makes him privy to information he wouldn't otherwise know, but I don't think he was the cause. I think he just meant to get us off track, thinking he's the key to my memories, when he's really not. Because he's a riddler."

Kurapika thought back to the encounter, but the memory was clouded by shame over his own stupidity and impatience. "So are you certain of this?"

"Maybe. Something doesn't really make sense to me though. This all started with needles, those Nen needles—"

"Not Nen needles like that," Kurapika clarified in case Senritsu thought of Illumi or Machi.

"You sure?" Senritsu asked, shooting him a quizzical look. And he wasn't really. There was no telling who those needles belonged to. That kid very well could have been lying, or been the riddler himself.

But there was something else that started to bother him. This idea that really they were going about this entire affair in the wrong way. _What was it the riddler said to us? Good luck finding his memories?_

"I'm sure," Kurapika replied.

* * *

They ended up not ordering anything at the café, instead leaving around noon and heading towards the Nostrade Mansion, despite Kurapika having no intention or desire to return there. And it became apparent then to Kurapika that the only way he was going to be able to extricate himself from Senritsu's presence is if he tricked her somehow. An impossible feat under normal circumstances, but with Kuroro nothing was impossible.

"You could've seriously hurt her," Kurapika said crouched over Senritsu's prone body lying in the middle of the warehouse. Her small chest rose up and down steadily, and no visible bumps marked any part of her head where Kuroro had hit her. He placed his hand on her forehead, wiping the sweat off her brow.

There were inside the warehouse where Kuroro had seen black crates, _or something like that,_ earlier _._ The significance of the warehouse was lost on him, only that he'd decided to take Senritsu here to show here where it all began

"Could have, but she's fine. And you said in the bathroom we needed to get rid of her," Kuroro said.

"Yes, but not like this." He ground his teeth together and resisted the urge to slap him. He had said that shortly before they left the café, but it had been little more than thinking out loud. _What did I expect_ from a man who stole money from strangers to pay for train tickets?

Kuroro shrugged. "It is what it is. We need to go before she wakes up anyway."

"Go where?" He stood up and looked around. The warehouse remained unchanged, not that he expected to find anything new here. Still, it was disappointing that they were really no closer to freeing themselves then when they'd first started.

"I have an idea or two." Kuroro said. And if to prove his point, he leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.

Kurapika blinked. "That is your idea?" he asked, then before he could even consider such a ridiculous notion, he shook his head. "No, we've discussed this already and we're not—"

"Come on. Just trust me this time." The older man placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.

But if Kuroro's grin was supposed to assuage his fears, it had the opposite effect. Kurapika felt his heart spike through his chest. _Well, it is what it is...I guess._

 _And_ it wasn't a half bad idea anyway.


	25. Chapter 25

**AN:** Sorry it's been like 84 years since I updated. My cat died and I just lost all my motivation to write for a while TT. I had him since he was a kitten and bottle fed him cause he was too young to be away from his mother (who was mauled by a dog, tragic I know). Anyway nobody cares and I will return to my normal update schedule from here on out, so like once a month lol

* * *

 **Twenty-Five**

"I'm giving you one chance and one chance only to tell me the truth. If you're lying, I will gut you." Kurapika held up his dowsing chain in front of Kuroro's face and leaned towards him as menacingly as he could. The two of them were in a hotel room, and Kuroro was seated on a queen-sized bed looking anything but threatened. _Damn it._

Because despite his threat, which had been made in all seriousness, Kuroro only smirked at him and help up his free hand. "You don't have to threaten me."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"That!" Kurapika pushed his ire down. "Do you remember that you're Kuroro Lucifer?"

"No."

Kurapika held his breath, staring at the chain. But it didn't move. Didn't even budge. He thought about blowing on it, but not only was that ridiculous, it wouldn't help him. "Then how do you know about that place?"

"I remembered it, is all. The desert was one of the first things I mentioned to you when we first met. Somehow, when I saw your friend, the name came to me." Kuroro frowned. "Hey, calm down. It does me no good to lie to you. I don't want to be stuck to you any longer either."

Kurapika shot him a look. "You could be leading me into a trap."

"Which would be a huge waste of time," Kuroro said, and his lazy smirk returned. "Take a deep breath and think about it. Why would I be leading you into a trap?"

"Because…" _Because_ if Kuroro remembered who he was, he would want to kill him. And there was really no better place to do so than where they were headed next.

"I'm not trying to trick you," he added. "I'm too fond of you kill now you anyway."

Kurapika rolled his eyes. "Shut-up." He sat down on bed next to him and blew air out of his mouth. While he still possessed some doubts, at least he was sure Kuroro still didn't fully remember who he was.

"So can we go?" Kuroro asked.

"No."

The taller man wrinkled his nose. "Why not?"

"Have you been even been listening to me the last few minutes?" Kurapika reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "I explained why we can't go."

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"Yeah, to not go," Kurapika replied.

"Oh come on. I listen to you for everything. How many times have I questioned any of your suggestions?" Kuroro held up a hand. "Don't answer that. But, I'm just saying I really think we should go here. It's the first thing I remembered that I know is tied to my identity. I am sick and tired of being attached you, and that has nothing to do with you. I would be sick of anyone at this point and I know you feel the same way."

But Kurapika shook his head. "For the last time, we're not going to Meteor City."

* * *

"I don't know how to sew," Kuroro said.

"It's not that hard." Kurapika sat the black and white thread on the nightstand next to him. At the food of the bed was a white bag.

"I'm just warning you," he said.

Kurapika shook his head and then pulled his shirt over his head, to the end of the chains. Grabbing the scissors he'd brought, he snipped the sleeve off carefully, tossing it into the waste bin.

Extracting the plain, white button up from the bag he cut one of the sleeves carefully, before slipping the shirt on. He took the white thread, threading through a needle and gave it to Kuroro.

Kuroro just shook his head, but he took the needle and grabbed his arm. "So I just so this back together."

He nodded. "The shirts a bit loose, so it doesn't matter if you sew it poorly, but the blazer needs to be decent."

"Can't we use fabric glue?"

"Seriously?" Kurapika shot him a look. "No, we can't. Just think of this practice."

"Okay but don't get mad at me if I make you bleed," Kuroro said, threading the needle carefully. His pattern ended up being zig-zagged and terribly uneven, but he did manage to sew the shirt back together without poking him.

"Just FYI, this other string is navy." Kuroro picked up the other thread spool and held it in front of him.

"Really?" Kurapika stared at it.

"Really." He threaded another needle, then, taking his arm, began meticulously sewing the sleeve back together. "This is so much work for you to be trapped in a suit until we remove this handcuffs."

"Which won't be long from now," Kurapika replied.

"Hopefully."

* * *

"I'm escorting this prisoner," Kurapika said to the lady at the ticketing gate, sliding a small stack of papers across the desk to her. "It's a bit down-to-the-wire. Sorry for not giving you notice sooner." Internally, he sucked in his breath. He wasn't confident in his ability to lie well, nor did he possess much faith in his _partner's_ ability to refrain from saying or doing anything that would draw unneeded suspicion towards them.

The lady stared at him, then looked at his Hunter's License on top of the stack. "Okay, um here are your tickets..." She slid the papers back to him and pointed to a security guard standing a few feet away. "Follow Gother. He'll make sure you two get seated in the correct place."

"Thank you," Kurapika said. He adjusted the white collar on his suit and took the tickets.

"I can't believe that worked," Kuroro said, near a whisper as they walked towards the guard.

"You're my prisoner, don't talk." Kurapika replied, quietly. He went over to the security guard, who escorted them to the last row of the plane. Kuroro sat down first at the window seat, then Kurapika sat beside him; the chain between them jingled loudly, seemingly nosier than usual though it didn't draw any attention in the near-empty aircraft.

"He that dangerous?" The guard asked, in a low voice, staring at the handcuffs.

Kurapika nodded. And the guard went off, sweat running down his brow.

"I feel like the handcuffs don't help our story."

Kurapika nudged him. "Just shut-up. For the rest of the ride. Before you get us both in trouble."

"What's the matter with you?" Kuroro huffed, leaning back in his seat. The plane slowly began filling. They were seated two rows behind any passengers, something Kurapika was hoping wouldn't change.

"Nothing," Kurapika replied. Which wasn't a lie. But they were headed to the one place Kurapika absolutely did not want to visit and had done his best to avoid even thinking about, despite it being a rather obvious place to go. Meteor City was an enigma, a frightening one. And he wasn't even sure they'd be allowed inside without some sort of special permission. "You know, she's my good friend," Kurapika said.

Kuroro glanced over at him. "…You want me to respond to that?"

"No."

"Everything okay back here?" The guard, Gother, came over and looked at him.

"Nothing," Kurapika replied. "I mean yeah, everything's fine."" _Damn,_ why was he such a bad liar?

"Alright, let me know if you need anything...uh..."

"Kurapika." He stuck out his hand, which the man gave a firm shake, before heading off.

Kurapika leaned back and took a deep breath. The plane filled steadily. A family of three sat in front of them, a man, woman, and little girl. He thought of Jasper's daughter, _Juri was it?_ He still felt bad about her and wondered if anyone had discovered who'd murdered her. Maybe when he extricated himself from Kuroro, he'd go searching for her killer himself.

"I want a drink," Kuroro whispered.

"Okay, stop talking," he replied, feeling more and more irked as time went on. A part of him realized his behavior was a little childish. He was an adult. And adults should communicate their grievances with one another. But the more reasonable part of him was annoyed at his own indifference towards Kuroro. _What is wrong with me?_ Did he seriously prefer Kuroro's company to Senritsu's? To Senritsu, who had been with him through everything? Had he seriously just left her there, unconscious, _because I like Kuroro…more?_

"I'm sorry."

Kurapika glanced over at him. "For what?"

"Just in general. I mean, I'm sure whatever you're pissed off about has to do with me."

"I'm not pissed off," Kurapika replied, grinding his teeth together.

"Alright." The taller man turned away from him, towards the window. "I still want a drink when the flight attendant comes by."

"Okay. How many times do I have to ask you to stop talking?"

The plane cranked to life and soon there were in the air. Kurapika tried to sleep, or at least empty his mind, but he could only think about Senritsu. _I've got to apologize to her as soon as I can._ When they landed, he would call her, explain he had no clue Kuroro was about to hit her and that he wasn't brainwashed or insane or being held against his will. _This Kuroro is an impulsive idiot,_ he would say. As if it somehow made sense to defend the behavior of his worst enemy to his close friend.

"How did you do that anyway?" Kurapika nudged his shoulder.

Kuroro lifted his hand, pressed his thumb and forefinger together and moved them across his lips in a zipping motion.

"You're not funny," Kurapika said, glowering at him.

"If you're talking about your friend, reflexes." His dark gaze fell on him. "I didn't know she'd go down like that. And no, it wasn't premeditated if that's what you're thinking."

"So you weren't trying to knock her out?"

"No, but I figured trying to explain that to you in the moment wasn't going to do any good. Plus, you wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Reflexes?"

"Yes. I'm guessing we aren't friends, so maybe some subconscious part of me thinks of her as a threat. When she got that close to me, I just—" He swatted his hands towards Kurapika's face, stopping just in front of his nose. "—did that."

He flinched, then shoved the man's hand away. "If that were the case, you would've knocked me out weeks ago."

"Yeah, and then I'd be stuck dragging your body around with me," he said.

The flight attendant came by and asked them if they wanted anything. Kurapika requested water, which she gave them before flitting off.

As he twisted open the water bottle, he felt weirdly surprised at how smoothly things were going so far. Other than the kid occasionally turning around to stare at them, nobody was paying much attention to them. Of course, just thinking that anyone would was his paranoia coming into play, _but still…_ He leaned back and shut his eyes. It was a long plane ride to their destination and he wanted to feel slightly well-rested when they arrived.

* * *

"Wake up. There's some sort of problem," Kuroro said, gently shaking his shoulder.

Kurapika blinked wearily, and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes with his free hand. "What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm just warning you in case the plane goes down or something." Kuroro grinned. "It would suck to wake up drowning in the middle of the ocean."

Kurapika blew air out of his mouth. "Thanks."

"Also, I have to use the restroom."

"You're going to have to hold it," Kurapika said.

"For six more hours."

"Yes!" He cleared his throat, coughed some, and lowered his voice. "I'm not standing outside the door while you pee."

"I'm your prisoner; this is human right's violation."

"You are not my prisoner, so shut-up."

"Fine, but I'm not standing out the door if you have to pee either." He leaned back. And Kurapika could see that he was half joking, _but still._ Maybe in a few more hours, once more people went to sleep, he would consider it. _Damn it, we should've found a private plane to fly us out._ They had looked for someone willing to fly them, but on such short notice and severely lacking funds, it had been impossible. Their only option had been to either wait a really long time, steal money, or fly commercial.

"Hey, don't I know you?" the man in front of them said. He was craning his neck to stare at them.

Kurapika's opened his mouth to say _no you don't_ but the man wasn't looking at him but at Kuroro. "No, you don't," Kurapika said before Kuroro could say anything.

"Oh…you sure? You look might familiar, friend." The man leaned towards Kuroro, gazing at him curiously. He had a strange, crescent shaped scar on his forehead, which was partially covered by messy, brown bangs.

"Turn around," Kurapika said, for some reason feeling extremely agitated. _Before I smash your face in._

"Alright." The man turned back around. Then, after a few seconds, he got up and walked towards the bathroom.

"I've seen that before," Kuroro said.

"Someone hitting on you?"

"No," His eyes narrowed slightly and he turned towards the bathroom." Did you notice that scar on his forehead? I swear, I've seen one just like it somewhere before."

"Hey, no smoking in the bathroom!" That was a flight attendant, banging on the bathroom door. "Sir, open the door please!"

"The riddler?" Kurapika searched back through his memories. It had been a while since he'd thought of him, but the image of an old man with a cigarette dressed in overalls came to his mind. And a crescent shaped scar on his forehead.

"Open the door!" the flight attendant said, rapping loudly. The scent of smoke filled the air. Kurapika jumped up before he could really think about it, but it seemed the _chain has shrunk by like half its size?_ Even Kuroro looked confused; the cuffs were now the size of regular handcuffs. There was virtually no space between them.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kuroro said.

The door to the bathroom flew open and the flight attendant screamed. "Fire!"


	26. Chapter 26

**Twenty-Six**

"Fire?" Kurapika said, sniffing the air.

"Seems a little dramatic to me too," Kuroro said, glancing out the window. "Sit down."

"But we should help."

"No, we shouldn't. I'm a violent criminal, remember," he said, grabbing his arm and tugging him down. "Relax. Alright."

"I'm not going to relax, alright." He jerked his arm away, but settled himself down into his seat nonetheless. The scent of smoke hung in the air, snaking its way through the cabin slowly, and he wrinkled his nose. Several flight attendants were huddled around the bathroom door, knocking and yelling. Gother appeared a moment later and was able to force the door open, letting a puff of smoke into the aircraft. Oxygen masks popped out from above.

Kurapika snapped his on, checking to make sure Kuroro did likewise.

The pilot came over the intercom and announced they would be making an emergency landing nearby due to a fire on one of the wings, _everybody please stay calm._

Kurapika inhaled sharply.

 _So much for smooth-sailing._

* * *

The plane had landed in the middle of nowhere, and that wasn't an exaggeration. As people rapidly began exiting the aircraft behind him, everyone appeared to be equally confused as to where they were or why they were on what appeared to be a random airstrip in the center of a dense jungle.

"Why did we land here?" Kurapika asked. They were surrounded by tall trees on every side. It was a miracle the pilot had even been able to see through the canopy to land here.

"I don't know," Kuroro said, shoving a hand in his jeans. "Bad directions maybe?"

"This certain's doesn't look like an airport.'

The crowd was pushing in around them, so Kurapika stepped off to the side, giving them more space. _I could look for Gother…_ but the plane was still on fire, its wing smoldering pleasantly a few meters away from them. _Least it doesn't seem to be spreading too rapidly._

"Think it's going to blow up?" Kuroro asked, staring at it.

"No…" He looked up at him, feeling annoyed at how close they were. The chain really had shrunk terribly, so that they had little choice but to stand shoulder to shoulder, practically. "Do you?"

"Well, this isn't how I pictured going out," he replied.

"We're not leaving." He glanced at the plane again, wondering what happened to that man who'd sat in front of them. "It's not going to blow."

Kuroro tried to throw his hands in the air, but only succeeded in getting them up halfway before Kurapika jerked down on the chain.

"Ow," Kuroro said, pulling the chain back slightly. "Why not? We need to get to Meteor City."

"We need to help these people. Also,knock it off!" Kurapika jerked the chain again, his wrist growing sore. "You're my prisoner, so shut-up."

"Fine." Kuroro crossed his arms, pulling Kurapika towards his chest. He dug his heels into the ground to keep from falling into him and pulled the chain again, steadying himself.

"You can't do that anymore," Kurapika said.

"Old habits die hard." Kuroro let his left hand hang by his side, bringing Kurapika's down too.

 _You have got to be kidding me._ Somehow, he managed not to say anything and set off in search of Gother, hoping the security guard or whatever he was would have some idea of where they were, and what to do next. But they found the man staring anxiously at the smoking wing a few meters away from him.

"Hey…Gother," Kurapika said.

The guard turned towards them, red-faced. He pulled the collar of his shirt up over his nose. "Oh hey, it's you. This really stinks."

Kuroro nudged his shoulder.

"Yeah, it does," Kurapika said. "What happened?"

Gother shrugged. The collar slide off his mouth. He quickly pulled it back up. "No clue…wing just caught on fire."

Kuroro nudged his shoulder again, this time harder.

Kurapika ground his teeth together, and stuck his nose in the air. "Why did we land here instead of someplace we could get help?"

Gother only shrugged again, the shirt coming down a third time. He tugged it up again. "The pilot thought the instructions were taking us to Huzman Airport, but it took us here instead. Nobody knows where this is, or why we even landed here...and between you and me, he can't contact anyone on the radio either. The plane is becoming too dangerous to be inside due to the smoke."

The smoke was growing thicker. Kurapika fumbled around with his shirt collar, trying to find a way to pull it up and eventually settling on just covering his mouth with his hand.

"Hey," Kuroro said, nudging him a _third freaking time._

"What," Kurapika turned towards him,"do you want?"

"Do you hear that?"

Kurapika coughed. "No." But he did hear it, among the chattering of the crowd. A strange chittering, coming from the surrounding vegetation. Like a bunch of birds headed towards them.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Sounds like a hoard of demons coming for us, but let's just wait and see," Kuroro replied, sourly.

"Hey, maybe you should take the cuffs off him," Gother said, taking a step toward him. "I can help you watch him? We can probably cuff him over there for safety."

"He's way too dangerous…for that." Kurapika cleared his throat and rubbed the bottom of his nose with his middle finger. "But I appreciate it."

The chittering grew in volume. And the crowd slowly began to quiet, heads turning in the direction of the noise.

What Kurapika could best describe as a starved bear came out of the surrounding woods. Its mouth moved slowly, and he could tell the noise was coming from between its sharp, yellow teeth.

The crowd surged toward the plane, and the pilot was trying to yell something about staying away from the smoke. He felt Kuroro moving somewhere, probably not of his own free will, and had no choice but to follow after him. He dug his feet into the ground, and started pulling the taller man towards the edge of the forest, into a clearing.

Kuroro pulled him forward suddenly and the two of them fell to the ground, Kurapika falling on top of him. He grit his teeth together, as the man rolled on top of him. _What in the hell?_ There was a loud pop, and something flew over Kuroro's back, slamming into the tree. The plane _had_ blown up.

"Wow, that's loud," Kuroro said, rolling off of him. "Can you hear me?"

Kurapika just looked at him. "How did you know that was going to blow?"

"I felt it vibrating earlier, that's why I asked you about it," he replied, grinning slightly. "I knew something was going to happen."

Kurapika scratched his head. "Yeah, I can hear fine. Thanks."

"If you died, I'd be stuck dragging your body around," he replied. "Let's see if anyone died."

But most of the crowd had dispersed by then, either having been scared away by the explosion, the creature that was now gone, or realizing there was no chance of getting onboard the plane again, off into the woods. Kurapika thought for a moment he should try to gather them, see if anyone was injured. _It's dangerous for them to be off on their own like especially with those things in the woods._ But then _why bother?_ He needed to find an airport and get to Meteor City so they two of them could be separated. And while he felt terrible, _it isn't my responsibility to help them._

His resolve lasted about as long as it took him to suggest to Kuroro that they head out into the woods to find the closest city or town.

"But we can't leave these people," Kurapika said, glancing at Gother who was sitting in the middle of the grass, staring at the remains of the plane. He kept hitting his ears and Kurapika was reminded that not everyone had Nen abilities.

Kuroro placed a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "You can. You don't have to save everyone all the time."

"But they don't even know where we are," he replied, suddenly very aware of how warm Kuroro's hand was. But he found the gesture comforting, so he waited a few more seconds before swatting him away.

"There's nothing I can say to convince you, other than I'm not helping you if you decide to play hero," he replied, turning away from him. He tilted his head back and blew air out of his mouth. "When we get separated, you can come back and save whoever you want."

* * *

They found a small road leading away from the airstrip and took it.

"Well, this is an adventure," Kuroro said. The sun was still up, but it wasn't too warm.

Still, Kurapika really wished he'd picked a lighter colored suit. "Not what I'd call it."

"Not having fun?"

Kurapika turned to see the taller man smirking down at him, head slightly tilted to the side. "Why would I be having fun right now?"

"We can't change our circumstances, so we might as well have fun." He pointed ahead of them. "Like, look at that."

He looked forward; there was some kind of rock scramble up ahead. "What about it?"

"A fun person would want to climb it, see what we can see."

"Climb a rock like this?" Kurapika lifted his arm, incidentally grazing it against Kuroro's.

"Why not? Worst that can happen is we die."

"Yeah, okay." Kurapika shook his head, though it was a little funny. "Maybe think of something that doesn't involve climbing and I'll consider it. And you should know I'm not a fun person by now."

"That is true."

Before he could respond, the sound of a car humming filtered through the air. He turned around to see a large truck bumbling their way, slowing down slightly. Stepping to the side, he stuck his thumb out.

"What are you doing?" Kuroro asked.

"Trying to get them to stop," Kurapika replied, shooting him a look. _What does it look like I'm doing?_ The truck rolled to a stop a few feet away, the driver's side window went down, and then Kurapika remembered how utterly weird he must look handcuffed to Kuroro and wearing a suit.

"Can I help you…miss?" the woman asked, her eyes lingering on the handcuffs.

"This is going to sound crazy, but our plane made an emergency landing in the airport back there and we just need to get to the closest city, town, anywhere that has an airport," Kurapika said. He pointed to the handcuffs, then reconsidered his story about escorting a dangerous prisoner. "This….is…um—"

The lady grinned and waved her hand at him. "We all have our kinks. Hop on in the back."

"It's not—"

"Thanks for the ride." Kuroro jerked the door open and clamored into the back, pulling Kurapika with him. There was a man in the front seat beside her, and he gave them a small wave with the back of his hand.

"By the way, where are we?" Kuroro asked.

"Oh you know, south of the border," the woman said, rolling her window up. "Where are you all headed?"

 _South of what border?_ Kurapika yawned. He rubbed his wrists, trying to keep himself awake and alleviate the pain. Though he had slept on the plane, he felt unusually tired.

"Wherever there's an airport or train," Kuroro replied, yawning. He slumped down next to him slightly, eyes fluttering slightly. "What border is this again?"

"Just south," the woman replied.

Kurapika's eyes felt heavy, _unnaturally so,_ and it occurred to him just then that maybe there was something in the air. His vision dimmed slightly and he reached for the door handle before everything went black.


	27. Chapter 27

**Twenty-Seven**

 _I fell asleep?_

Kuroro's eyes fluttered open. He was feeling both well-rested and surprised he had somehow dozed off. They were still in the truck, and it took his labored mind a few seconds to realize _we've stopped._ The front seats were vacated and a sweet scent hung in the air, like honey mixed with flowers. The smell was vaguely familiar, and it reminded him of something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Kuroro nudged his blonde companion, who was huddled up against the door, eyes firmly shut. "Wake up, we're here," he said. He tried again, a little harder as his gaze drifted out the window. "Kurapika, wake up."

His gaze drifted out the windows. _Where are we?_ Certainly didn't look like they were at an airport, or a city, or anywhere really. The longer he stared out the window, the more it seemed like they hadn't gone anywhere _._ He nudged the blond, hard this time, mentally preparing for the chewing out coming his way.

But Kurapika didn't move, eyes didn't even flutter lightly. Kuroro leaned towards his face and studied him. Sticking a finger beneath his nose, warm breath tickled his fingers. _Well, he's still breathing…_

"Are you really out cold?" he asked, shaking his shoulder slightly. "Wake up, blondie."

Nothing. Pressing a hand to his chest, Kurapika's pulse beat strong. _Not dead, so he must be asleep._

A figure was approaching the vehicle. He sighed, leaned back, and shut his eyes. If Kurapika was still out cold, _I'm probably supposed to be as well._

The voices were muffled, and he wasn't sure why. But he made out pieces such as _good catch, need to separate them, take them to Einor._

 _Great._ Cracking one eye open, he studied his surroundings as best as he could without being obvious. They were still somewhere in the forest, probably deeper than they were at the plane. And there were no buildings or any identifying markers around them that indicated they had arrived anywhere significant.

A quick escape was frankly out of the question. There was no way he could drag Kurapika out of the vehicle quickly and without hurting him. _Maybe it would wake him up if I just dropped him on the ground…_ but he decided against it. _Better to not anger sleeping beauty…he'll probably slap me in his sleep or something._ But that meant he'd have to wait until their captors took them out of the truck, and Kuroro really didn't trust his acting abilities to convincingly stay asleep while they fumbled around, trying to drag the two of them out of the vehicle. Plus, they weren't getting separated. _Period_. And of the two of them, it was more likely Kuroro would be the one losing his arm or hand, not Kurapika.

He reached over the unbuckled the blonde's seatbelt, trying to ignore the scent that seemed to be seeping into his skin. Then, he looked around the car for anything that could be a weapon. There was a pen and piece of paper by his feet, and a cup in the cup holder up front. He took the pen. It wasn't that his memories were returning, it was just that there were some things he knew instinctually. Like knocking out the blonde's friend. So he was fairly certain, if he had something sharp and pointy, defending himself would come easily enough.

But then the keys were still in the ignition.

He looked at the chain connecting him to Kurapika. He could try to climb up front, _no actually that won't work. The chain's not long enough anymore._

He nudged Kurapika again. "Wake up."

The front doors opened and Kuroro shut his eyes. The engine came to life and he concealed the pen under the sleeve of his shirt, _wait what happened to my jacket?_ He resisted the urge to look around for it, instead focusing on keeping his breathing steady and even. After all, he was making some lofty assumptions. It was entirely possible Kurapika was just extremely tired and they had stopped for gas or something on the way to the city.

 _Yeah no._ Kuroro would never just doze off unless someone had drugged him. That he knew without a doubt.

The truck came to a stop a half an hour later. The heard doors opening and shutting.

"Alright, take them out and get the saw," a woman's voice said.

Kuroro felt hands on his shoulder. He gripped the pen, opened his eyes, then swung the device at the man's neck, hitting him right in the artery. The man screamed and jumped back, but Kuroro darted forward and jerked his weapon out.

The man fell backwards on the ground and Kuroro turned to see the woman sprinting away.

 _"_ Wake. Up." He punctuated both words with a hard nudge. _Damn, it's like waking up the dead. Granted,_ Kurapika was a rather heavy sleeper even under natural conditions and if he was drugged, he'd likely be out for a few more hours.

He spent about five minutes trying to figure out how to drag them both out of the truck and finally decided to just sort of slide him out after exiting himself. He propped Kurapika up on his shoulder and looked around.

They were still in the jungle.

"You better thanks me for this later." Kuroro stepped over the man's body, glancing over it. But the keys weren't on him.

"Put your hands up."

He put one hand up, the one not holding Kurapika. And turned around slowly to see the woman from before pointing a rifle at him.

A number of ideas came to mind, but he tossed them all away in favor of survival. Not his. If Kuroro died it was _whateve_ r, but he'd feel a little bad if he mistakenly got Kurapika killed.

"My hands are up," he said, grinning slightly.

"Stop messing around!" The woman's eyes were wide with terror. "You killed him."

"I guess so," he replied. "You are kidnapping us though."

"Stop talking!" She took a step forward and lifted the rifle. "I'll shoot you dead. Now, lower your friend to the ground."

Kuroro lowered Kurapika slowly, having no choice but to go down with him. _Of all the times for the handcuffs to shrink to an unreasonably shot length…_ still, he felt more annoyed than genuinely worried. He had the pen after all. And maybe he could get close enough to her to kill her too. _She likely has the keys with her…but where did she get that rifle from?_

The woman took a step towards him, glancing at the prone body of her friend. He figured she was probably trying to figure out what had killed him, so he tucked the pen under his sleeve again as her eyes came back to him.

"Don't move." She thrust the gun towards his face.

"What about your friend?" he asked.

"What?"

"He might still be alive, just saying," he replied. And it wasn't a lie.

The woman kept the gun pointed at him, but walked over to the body just behind him. She knelt down.

Kuroro lunged at her and then was stopped by the chain.

 _Damn it._

The rifle went off, missing him by a long-shot. _She's not a shooter?_ He kicked his leg out and managed to stumble her enough to send the rifle to the ground.. But with Kurapika's heavy form limiting his mobility, there wasn't much else he could do except throw the pen at her. It slammed into her forehead, much to his surprise, and she went down.

Kuroro stared at his hand for a minute. _How did I do that?_

"Did you see that?" he nudged Kurapika, who was still laying on his back, eyes closed. _Good._ The last thing he wanted was to get yelled at for killing not one, but two people in the span of ten minutes. He dragged the blonde over to the woman and grabbed the rifle, shoving it under his arm. The keys to the truck were in her pocket, but it became apparent to him almost immediately that there was really no way to easily get into the truck. If he got on the driver's seat first, that still left unconscious Kurapika outside. And if he put Kurapika in first, he'd have to climb over him somehow to get to the driver's seat.

"Wake up!" Kuroro sat him upright on the ground, against the truck, and shook him gently. "You really let some whatever that was knock you out?"

He blew air out of his mouth and sat back on his haunches. _Wonder why I woke up…"_ He could only assume he had a high-tolerance for poison and drugs, or that his natural aversion to sleeping for long periods of time had simply woken him up after an hour or so.

"Alright, I'm climbing over you." He tossed the rifle in the backset and picked the blonde up again, pulling him over to the truck. Opening up the passenger's side door, he situated Kurapika inside, and moved the seat back as far as it would go. Then he carefully climbed over him and got in the driver's seat.

The air still held that smell, so he rolled the windows down after turning the vehicle on. Not really knowing where to go, he looked up into the sky. In the distance, he could see plumes of smoke filtering into the blue sky above it. _That's probably from the plane._ He started driving in that direction and eventually found the road, or at least what he figured was the road they had been on before.

 _What is that smell…and why is it so familiar?_ Even with the air from outside, the scent seemed to linger on his tongue, seeping into his clothes.

He wrinkled his nose, then checked to make sure Kurapika was still breathing. He drove for some time, but the truck had only a quarter tank of gas and for all he knew, he could be driving in the wrong direction.

The smoke thickened and he rolled the windows back up. While it was slightly weird no one had put out the fire yet, he could only assume he really was in the middle of absolutely nowhere and that there was no chance of running into anyone reasonable out here.

 _Guess I'll keep driving._

* * *

He parked in the lot closest to what he could best describe as what looked like an abandoned grocery store at the edge of what appeared to be a ghost down. Again, he was making some assumptions. But it was night, _this place looks sketchy as hell,_ and there wasn't anyone around. Huge town in the middle of nowhere could only mean ghost town.

The truck was on E and he was hoping somewhere in this town stood an old gas station he could steal some has from..

"Are you really still asleep?" Kuroro asked, glancing at Kurapika who was still sleeping peacefully next to him. "Of course you are."

Reversing his steps form earlier, he got Kurapika out of the truck and leaned him against his shoulder. His feet took him to a number of places, none of which were gas stations. And finally he kicked down the door to a house and decided to call it a night.

The scent had finally dissipated, but he couldn't figure out why it smelled familiar to him.

 _Perfume…that's what it was._ That woman was wearing perfume.

He made his way up creaky, wooden stairs and searched around until he found something resembling sheets to put over an ancient looking mattress. He sat Kurapika on the bed, let out a breath, and lay next to him.

 _Who wore perfume like that…?_ The name was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't remember it, _damn it_. After giving it some thought, he rustled around Kurapika's pockets and produced his phone. It was practically dead, had two percent battery by some miracle.

But then he decided to drop it and closed his eyes. Hopefully, Kurapika would be awake by the morning and they could search for gas a lot easier.

 _Blondie….doesn't wear perfume, does he?_

 _No but she did._

He looked up his name, Kuroro Lucilfer. There wasn't much on him other than he, along with several other members of the Ryodan were wanted for various crimes around the world. Given his actions today, he could only assume murder was among them.

The phone went down to one percent battery. He flipped it off and sat it on the bed.

The scent seemed stronger and then it hit him. He did know someone who wore that perfume, or at least he use too. She was dead now thanks to a certain chain user who was sitting beside him.

He sat upright, his face scrunching together into a scowl.

 _I really am Kuroro Lucilfer._


	28. Chapter 28

**Twenty-Eight**

Kurapika's eyes fluttered open. His arms and neck felt stiff, his back slightly sore like he'd been sleeping on the ground for a few hours. And he couldn't _really_ recall what he'd been doing right before falling asleep. He lifted a sweaty palm to his forehead, but was stopped short by _that damn chain, damn it._ He felt a little light-headed, like he'd been drinking _or something._

Above him, Kuroro was sitting cross-legged on the bed wearing an expression that was quite unreadable.

He sat up. He was on a bed. The air smelled musty and old, and he was sure a cloud of dust went up around as he shifted positions. A headache was slowly forming between his eyes and he pinched his nose with his free hand. His eyes were dry, so he took his contacts out and put them in his jacket pocket for lack of anywhere else to discard them, hoping Kuroro wouldn't do anything to make him too upset.

"Where are we?" he asked, glancing at the taller man.

Kuroro's eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm not sure."

Kurapika gave him a look. "Well, did we teleport here? How did we get here?"

"I brought you here," he replied. "That lady in the truck drugged us. "

"Truck?" _Oh, right._ But there was something about Kuroro's expression, the way he was staring at him so intensely, that made him clear his throat and shift around uncomfortably on the bed. He averted his gaze to his fingernails, pretending to pick something out from underneath them. "What's the matter? What happened to the lady?"

"I stole her truck after killing her."

"You did what?" He stared at him. A part of him assumed it was probably for a good reason, _likely because she drugged us,_ but that Kuroro had admitted it so readily surprised him. But again, he soon found his eyes drifting to Kuroro's nose, unable to meet his eyes. "What's the matter with you? Why did you kill her? And stop staring at me like that. Where are we and why are we here?"

"Relax," Kuroro said, leaning back slightly. "I took her truck, but it ran out of gas. I stopped here thinking I could find a gas station, but…it's more like a ghost town. Not that I was able to look around much, because you wouldn't wake up."

"Oh." He rubbed his nose. "Well, stop staring at me."

"Why?" Kuroro asked. "Am I making your uncomfortable?"

 _Yes._ Kurapika gave him another look, _but why do I feel weird around him?_ He shook his head. "Should we look around? There's gotta be a gas station somewhere." He swung his legs over the bed, wondering who had lived here. The walls and floors were dusty, but not grimy. A half-open closet stood to his left, with a few clothes still inside.

"We should look around," Kuroro said.

Kurapika swallowed then, turning away from him. But suddenly, he felt sort of vulnerable with his back towards him. And maybe it was the setting; this quiet, strange house and still town that was putting him on edge. Or maybe it was something else.

They made their way down chipped, wooden stairs, which creaked noisily under their weight. The chain between them seemed to have lengthened, that he could at least walk in front of Kuroro. At the bottom of the steps, he looked around for any indicators of where they were. If it weren't for the layer of dust coating the wall, he'd have thought the house had been recently vacated.

He glanced behind him, at Kuroro _, what is his problem?_

But his uneasiness soon melted into agitation. His head hurt and he didn't feel like dealing with him if he was going to be unforthcoming _about whatever his issue is._

"We should try to find a gas station," Kurapika said.

"Sure."

Outside, even the air held a strange, musty scent. Houses similar to the one they had come out of dotted the block around them, most of them outwardly in a good condition.

 _Wonder what happened here…?_ His brows came together as they walked down the street. Everything looked old, but not run-down. Like the whole town had decided to peacefully leave at once. Not a single car sat anywhere.

But what wasn't helping his agitated state was Kuroro's quietness. _Did he do something besides murder that lady? Why isn't he talking? Is he tired? How did he wake up before me?_

At the end of the block was a small grocery store and, just beyond it, what appeared to be a gas station. "Think the electricity works in this place?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro stood next to his shoulder, hand in his pocket. "Won't be able to pump gas if not," he said. They went to the station, but the pump was dead.

"If we could find a car, we could siphon gas out of it," Kuroro said. "But I haven't seen a single car."

"Me neither…," Kurapika said. "Was there enough gas in the truck to maybe get somewhere else? This place is kind of giving me the creeps."

Kuroro gave him a look and again, Kurapika could only clear his throat. They could just start walking, as dangerous as that might be. But not only did he have no idea where he was, he didn't even know which direction to go in.

He looked up at the sky, for signs of the plane's smoke. But the sky above was mostly clear and blue.

His stomach growled. _How long was I asleep?_

"At this rate, maybe we should walk," Kurapika said. "But first let's see if truck has a little gas in it. If not, we'll take a chance and see if we run into someone who can help."

"Alright."

They went back to the parking lot, or at least the lot where Kuroro claimed to have left the vehicle. A dirty newspaper blew across the road's surface and a few rocks littered the area.

"Are you sure you left it here?" Kurapika asked. The taller man nodded. "I guess we're walking then," Kurapika added. _Great. Somebody took the truck unless…_ He turned and looked at Kuroro.

"What?"

"What is your problem?" Kurapika asked.

"What do you mean?"

"That is what I mean." He gestured towards him, wholly uncertain of what he really meant. "You're acting weird. You haven't smiled once since I woke up."

Kuroro tilted his head to the side slightly, but he didn't smile. "I remembered something."

"…What is it?"

The ground vibrated beneath his feet. Kurapika swung around to see three trucks barreling towards them. _What the hell?_

"That's the truck I stole," Kuroro said.

The trucks circled around them, coming to a stop a few feet away. Several men and women wielding rifles of some sort stepped out and pointed it at them. _Who the hell are they?_ But, Kurapika stuck his free hand in the air. "Look, we don't want any trouble," he said.

"No trouble my ass. He's the one who killed her and Hozumi," a woman said, pointing a long finger at Kuroro. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"Yep, I saw it too," a man said, standing beside her.

Kurapika kept his feet planted firmly on the ground and dropped his chain. "I apologize for what my friend did, but your friends drugged us. So call it even."

"Big talk for a lady with no weapons. Any last words?" the woman said.

"Yeah, drop your guns and I won't hurt you," he replied. "And I'm not a lady."

They fired. Kurapika spun his chain, deflecting the bullets. But with Kuroro, he realized his mobility was severely limited, so he swung at them, knocking most of the weapons to the ground. "Duck," Kurapika said. Kuroro did.

He slid his chain along the ground, knocking the weapons out of reach. The people, seemingly surprised that they weren't defenseless, turned around, running for the trucks.

Kuroro bumped into him, causing him to stumble to his right. There was a popping noise. And he realized one of several still had a rifle. He stood up and swung his chain, knocking it to the asphalt. Then tripped him; the shooter's head hit the ground. The trucks were pulling away, two of them at least. He swung his chain at the third one, lodging it into the bumper and hoping the gesture would keep them from driving off with it. But they abandoned the truck, hurrying away in a cloud of dirt.

Kurapika blew air out of his mouth and turned towards Kuroro. "You know—" He dropped down beside him. "Are you okay?"

Blood was coming out of the taller man's shoulder. And his face had paled slightly. "I'm fine actually."

"Did you push me?" Kurapika asked. "Are you crazy? You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Crazy to push you out of the way?" Kuroro quirked an eyebrow, a slight smirk forming on his lips. "No, I just figured if one of us was going to go it should be the one who's actually useful."

"You are useful." He pushed his hand away, and pulled down the collar of his shirt, ripping it slightly. The wound was oozing blood. Kurapika pressed his hand over it. "We need to stop the bleeding, then get you to a hospital or…actually…I'll do it. Let's...rip your shirt off."

Kuroro acquiesced, ripping his shirt off.

"I don't need your help, by the way," Kurapika said, taking the shirt and balling it up. "Next time, just let me get shot."

Kuroro leaned forward, close to his face. "Your eyes are red."

Kurapika leaned away from him. "Yes…I have a Nen ability called Emperor Time and when my eyes are red it-well that doesn't matter." He wrapped the chain under Kuroro's arm and around his shoulder. The bullet popped out a few seconds later and the wound healed slowly.

"Feels like new," Kuroro said as Kurapika unwrapped his chain. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing. I…my chain can heal people too."

"Thanks."

"Like I said, next time just let me get shot."

"Well, I don't have any Nen abilities like that," he replied. "Think its better I get hurt."

 _Whatever_. But, he studied his face for a second. _Seems like he's back to normal...damn, what's the matter with me?_ "Let's go."

* * *

For some reason, the moment they'd gotten on the road, Kuroro had fallen asleep. And had remained sleeping for the last few hours. Kurapika couldn't tell if he was faking or not, because if he was genuinely tired, _and he's got to be after he carried me into that town,_ then it would be rude to wake him.

 _Whatever._ He still had no clue where they were, but he had seen something resembling city lights about ten minutes ago. And with half a tank of gas, he was sure they would reach somewhere before long. But with his wallet gone and phone dead, even if they managed to find an airport, they wouldn't be able to afford tickets. _I hope we get refunds…_

Twenty minutes later, more cars began populating the road and soon he could see the familiar sight of skyscrapers and other brightly lit buildings dotting the sky. They were in some kind of city. And if it didn't have an airport, he was sure at least they'd be able to get to one from here.

Kuroro woke up just as he pulled into the lot of a motel.

"I don't have any money for a room," Kurapika said. "Unless you have my wallet?"

Kuroro popped open the glove compartment and pulled out a wad of cash.

"Where did that come from?"

"Just found it here."

"Did you steal that from someone?"

"Can't remember."

Kurapika rolled his eyes, but he was tired and hungry, and wanted to lie down somewhere comfortable for an hour. So he let Kuroro buy them a room with a king-sized bed. Then they went to the closest store and brought a phone charger, and ramen. He charged his phone on the nightstand and let out a breath. He fished around the plastic, grocery bag until he found the ramen. "You think I can just make this with hot water?" he asked.

"Probably. Won't taste as good."

Kurapika tugged his tie off and tossed it on the floor, wondering how he was going to get out of his suit. Getting into it before the plane ride had been a pain; ripping it apart again would likely ruin it for good unless he could convince Kuroro to take out the threading.

"I remembered something," Kuroro said.

Kurapika turned towards him. "…What is it?"

"I like you,"

Kurapika dropped the food on the bed. "…Excuse me?"

He shook his head. "No, I mean, I value our friendship. But I don't think we can remain friends."

 _What is he talking about?_ Kurapika winkled his nose. _Unless..._ "…Do you remember who you are?"

He nodded.

"Do you remember…me?"

"Yes."

 _Oh._ His shoulders sagged. He wasn't sure how to respond to that, or if he should. It wasn't a surprise really. At some point, Kuroro of course was going to remember his past, remember everything in fact. Kurapika had likely grown too comfortable around him anyway, they were enemies after all.

 _Wait, what is wrong with me?_ That feeling from earlier returned and he found himself unable to meet the man's gaze. _He remembers…_ And then he felt annoyed. Annoyed that his reaction wasn't as virulent as it ought to have been. After all, he should've been fuming, furious, _this is the man who killed my family._ And he could no longer use the excuse that Kuroro didn't know any longer, because he did.

But instead, he didn't really feel any way in particular. And certainly not angry.

Then, another thought hit him.

"Well if that's the case…why are we still stuck to each other?" Kurapika lifted the handcuffs up just to confirm they were in fact still there. He lopped his finger inside the cuff and tugged on it. Nothing. He banged his wrist along the edges of the nightstand, hoping the cuffs would fall off.

They didn't.

"That's a good question," Kuroro replied. "And I don't know the answer to it."


	29. Chapter 29

**AN:** Thanks to anyone who left a review! Also, I am sorry for not updating more regularly lol. I've been super sick Also, let me just apologize now for the grammar errors.

* * *

 **Twenty-Nine**

Kurapika stared at the chain, trying to will it to fall off with his mind. It also gave him something to focus on for the time being _…why are we still stuck together?_ While he couldn't remember exactly what the riddler had said about separating, he was certain Kuroro's memories returning meant the chains should fall off.

"Do you remember all of your memories?" Kurapika asked, still staring at his wrist. _Fall off…fall off. Come on, damn it._ "If that makes any sense."

"Sort of," Kuroro replied. "I know who I am, I know who you are, but I don't know how I lost my memories. And I'm not sure where my memories begin."

"What does that mean?" Kurapika said, still unable to lift up his gaze.

"I don't know," Kuroro replied. "Maybe I don't know who I am."

"What?" Kurapika wrinkled his nose and risked a glance up at him. However, _the Spider_ wasn't looking at him, but towards the small window across the room.

"Nothing."

His attention back on his wrist, he spent a minute swallowing air. Something like awkwardness crept into the room. Slowly at first, but it grew stronger with each passing second.

It had been bearable, and at times even pleasant if Kurapika were being fully honest with himself, to be with a Kuroro who was both oblivious to what he was and to their history with one another. And now that he wasn't, it seemed there was no way to ignore how uncomfortable Kurapika felt around him. Almost more disconcerting, Kurapika couldn't gauge Kuroro's feelings any longer, because is face was a mask. If the man was feeling any discomfort, it wasn't showing.

"Why are we still stuck together?" Kuroro said.

"I'm guessing you have to remember why you lost your memory," Kurapika said. He blew air out of his mouth and looked down at the bedding. "…We're still going to Meteor City then." _Great. Just great._

"There some reason you're not looking at me?"

Kurapika peered up at him, locking eyes with Kuroro's dark gaze. "No."

"You sure?"

"Stop staring at me," Kurapika said, scooting to the edge of the bed. "This doesn't change anything between us."

"I'm not the one acting odd." Excuse me?"

"Forget it. Are you still hungry?"

"Why?"

"Stop being paranoid," he replied, pointing to the fallen bag of food. "I'm hungry and you were about to make ramen."

"Oh...right." He retrieved the bag of food and extracted the ramen, swinging his legs over the bed. He peeled the top partially off the ramen and went over to the microwave, opening the door.

"Are you going to put water in that?" Kuroro said just over his shoulder.

 _Sink._ To his right was the sink. He turned on the faucet.

Kuroro sighed behind him.

"What?" Kurapika filled the container up with water up to the line and then turned the sink off. "Where else am I supposed to get water?"

"I didn't say anything," Kuroro said.

He pulled the microwave door open with more force than was necessary. He placed the food inside and shut the door, jerking the chain towards him. The chain jingled annoyingly.

Kuroro pulled the chain back, making it taut between them. Kurapika went to pull back but Kuroro grabbed his wrist.

"Look," Kuroro said, leaning towards him. "You hate me and with good reason. Consequently, I'm going to act as much like the person you've gotten to know over the last few weeks as humanly possible. But you have got to relax. Because we are still stuck together and we are going to be stuck together until we die, unless we work together to get these off."

Kurapika ground his teeth together, leaning back until his head hit the wall by the microwave. "I'm relaxed." He pulled away, but Kuroro's grip tightened slightly. "Okay, fine. Let go of me before I knock you out."

Kuroro dropped his wrist and stepped back.

Kurapika hit the four on the microwave. "I don't hate you. I just…strongly dislike you." Which was more or less true, even if he was still somewhat in denial about it. Then he unbuttoned the top buttons off his suit. "It's really hot in here."

"You're going to have to cut it off," Kuroro said, motioning to the shirt.

"It's a suit," Kurapika said. "And this wasn't cheap. Can't you pull the threads out?"

"I hope you're kidding," Kuroro replied, shooting him a look. He opened up a random drawer in the kitchenette and produced a pair of scissors. "Or shower in your clothes."

"I don't mind showering in my clothes. I've done it plenty of times already." _But this was a suit, not jeans and a ,_ somewhat bregrudgingly Kurapika took off the jacket, sliding it to the chain. Kuroro cut it and let it fall to the floor. Kurapika flinched.

"I'll get you another one," Kuroro said. "Unbutton your shirt."

The microwave beeped as Kurapika finished unbuttoning his shirt. He slid it to the cuffs and Kuroro cut that off at well. He gathered up the clothes and tossed them in a small waste bin nearby. Then he opened the microwave.

"Stop staring at me."

"Alright." Kuroro set the scissors on the counter. He already had the other package of ramen, which he ripped open and filled with water before putting it into the microwave.

"How are you going to buy me another suit?" Kurapika said, folding his arms over his chest. _Do I have a shirt I can put on? How would I even get it on at this point._

"I'm the leader of the Ryodan," Kuroro said, flashing him a toothy grin. "I'm rich."

"With stolen money."

"I don't steal money. I steal things and sell them…normally," Kuroro said. "Sometimes, I obtain them through legal means as well."

Kurapika scoffed.

"I will buy you a suit," Kuroro said, shaking his head. "You can take it, or leave it."

"How about you buy me some chopsticks first?" Kurapika said, staring at his ramen. He'd forgotten to get utensils. "And a shirt."

"I'll buy you a shirt, but I don't know how you're going to get it on."

* * *

"I can drive," Kuroro said. He was standing by the passenger's seat of the truck, _which we stole,_ wearing a slight scowl.

"But do you have your license?" Kurapika asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Get in the truck." Kuroro opened up the door and pointed.

Kurapika shot him a look, but decided against arguing any further. It wasn't as easy to do so, now that _this is actually Kuroro Lucilfer_. He climbed into the passenger's side and sat down, absentmindedly rubbing his wrist. The chain seemed to have increased in length, resembling how it was when they had first come together, which he took to be a good sign.

Kuroro sat in the driver's seat and started the engine, backing out of the motel's parking lot.

"So we're going to Meteor City," Kurapika said. He was still shirtless, though Kuroro had given him a jacket to drape over his shoulders. And the two of them made a sight, considering Kuroro's own shirt had been ripped off to stop his bleeding.

"Looks like it," he said. "The riddler will probably follow us wherever we go."

"You think that guy on the plane was him?"

"I do…but..." Kuroro dark eyebrows came together as he gripped the steering wheel.

 _Yeah._ Kurapika felt the same way. Not that he had been under the assumption the riddler was human, _but still it's strange_. The chain didn't seem to hold any strong Nen, or any at all really, and should have been broken by a decent pair of pliers. Nor had he sensed anything from that man. Yet, here they were. Still together.

He sunk down into his seat and pressed his face against the window, letting the cool glass ease his tension.

"Are you going to put your seat belt on?" Kuroro asked.

"Seriously?" Kurapika said.

"You would yelled at me for not wearing mine."

Kurapika reached over and snapped his on. "I need a shirt."

"Alright. I'll stop somewhere and you can get one. But I'm not kidding. I'm not going to sew anything onto you."

Kurapika blew air out of his mouth.

Kuroro slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. Cars whizzed by them as the taller man turned towards him.

"Things are awkward between us now, because we're too familiar with the other to maintain the feelings we formerly had for one another, even if they were one-sided," Kuroro said. "I've watched you pee. Not even friends can boast that level of intimacy."

Kurapika grimaced.

"But you have got to relax, because I'm seriously contemplating ways to drug you until we get to Meteor City. And that would piss you off. And it would also piss me off, because I'd have to carry you around everywhere and explain to everyone why I'm carrying you around." Kuroro put his hands on the steering wheel and faced the front. "So take a deep breath, close your eyes, and take a nap or something."

"I'm not tired," he lied. Actually, he was exhausted.

"Just stop bickering and take a nap."

He sighed, but then he did close his eyes. The truck hummed and vibrated, lulling him to a more relaxed state of mind. And his mind began to wander. Not to anything in particular. Sleeping next to his worst enemy should've put him on edge, and while he didn't feel comfortable, that wasn't because of Kuroro, but himself. It unsettled him that Kuroro didn't actually make him feel that uncomfortable.

 _Get it together, Kurapika._

What would he do when the chains were finally off? The likely answer _is nothing. I will probably do nothing._ But the thought itself was exhausting him. So he let himself drift off to sleep for a while, awakening when the truck came to a stop at a light. He did feel considerably better, even if he still didn't have a shirt. And outside the sky was dark. His stomach growled as he tried to think of something to talk about.

"So you remember that book Jasper had," Kurapika said. "I think his name was Jasper at least."

"My Skill Hunter book?"

"That was fake, right?"

"Yeah." Kuroro conjured up the real one and set it on the dashboard. "Still can't figure out why someone made it. A fake is pretty much useless."

"That is weird." _I can't believe he really brought that thing out._ Kurapika peered at it curiously. _I wonder what exactly his Nen ability is...he probably wouldn't tell me even if I asked._

"However, I can teleport us places now." Kuroro turned to him and grinned. "No having to break in or sneak around."

"Yeah." But he frowned as something else came to mind. "What did you mean by one-sided earlier?"

"What?" Kuroro glanced over at him, before returning his attention to the road.

"Something about our former feelings being one-sided." He turned and gazed out the window. They were pulling into a parking lot, in front of a small store.

"I know you hated me, or still hate me, but I never hated you."

His frowned deepened. He reached over and turned the air on low. "How is that?"

Kuroro shrugged. "For a while I was hoping you would join the Spider."

"I'd rather die."

"I'm well aware."

His frown deepened. He balled his hand into a fist and began tapping his thigh. "How did you not hate me though? I killed two of your…friends or whatever they were."

"They were friends," Kuroro said, his face a blank canvas. His fingers hung lazily over the edges of the steering wheel. "And I really don't know. I just never did. I find...feelings like that unproductive."

 _Well that doesn't make sense._ But he didn't get the impression Kuroro was lying. And he didn't want to think about it anyway. Or talk about it. "So are we driving to Meteor City or walking?" he asked.

"We're flying," he said. "But not commercial. I'm going to get money, get a phone, then call someone who can take us there."

The store outside was brightly lit up. "Where are we?"

"The Convenience Store." Kuroro pulled up closer to the front of the building, where a sign at the top said The Convenience Store. "Come on."

"I don't have a shirt," Kurapika said.

"You have my coat?"

Kurapika turned his head away from him

"I'm not being sarcastic," Kuroro said. "I don't have a shirt either."

"Just shut-up."

Kuroro took the keys out of the ignition. "Of the two of us, you look infinitely better without a shirt. Relax."

Kurapika gave him a look. "Not really." He climbed over the driver's sea, his feet hitting the ground. Pulling the coat over his shoulders, he tried to swallow his growing ire. _Really,_ there was no reason to be annoyed. He'd be more annoyed still trapped in the suit, hot and sweaty.

They went into the convenience store where Kuroro located an ATM. Kurapika considered asking how, with no identification or anything, he was going to get money out, but after hitting some buttons, the machine produced a stack of cash, which the taller man pocketed in his jeans.

"Are you still hungry?" Kuroro asked.

He shrugged. "Are you?"

"Kind of. I want coffee, but I don't want to be rude and not get you anything."

"You drink coffee?" Kurapika blinked. He couldn't think of a single instance where Kuroro had requested coffee, or even drunk it.

"I do," he replied. They shuffled over to the coffee machine. Kurapika noted the cashier's eyes staring at him suspiciously, _what a sight we make._ His face started to warm.

"So…coffee? Because once we get in the car, we're not stopping."

"No, I don't drink coffee," he said.

"Tea?"

"Yes, but I don't want anything except a shirt."

"Alright."

They went over and paid, getting heading back outside. Kurapika went into the passenger's seat. Kuroro borrowed his phone and made a few phone calls, before announcing that a friend of his would meet them in a city called Gabun about three hours away at a small airstrip and fly them out to Meteor City.

"Here." Kuroro threw a white t-shirt onto his lap.

Kurapika held it in front of his face. "Where did you get this from?"

Kuroro shrugged. He handed him a Styrofoam coffee cup. It was green tea.

 _Did he steal that while I wasn't paying attention?_ "Well, there's no way I can put this on in the car," Kurapika said, looking at the shirt. He placed the tea in the cup holder.

Kuroro just shook his head, but a slight smile started to creep on his lips. "You… really are something else," he said. "Fine. One we get to Meteor City, I will sew you shirt on for you on one condition."

"Which is?"

"You've got to relax."


	30. Chapter 30

**AN:** **Tl;dr Changing clothes in handcuffs is impossible, spent the last few weeks doing edits.**

 **Long Version You Should Skip:** So I didn't give much thought to changing clothes with handcuffs until the last couple of chapters where I ran into a dilemma because _it's impossible to change clothes in handcuffs._ (!)

I considered various explanations (like Nen) but I just went back and fixed this issue. So my long hiatus was not because I abandoned the story ( lol never, I already have the ending planned out, sort of), but because I went through and rewrote like 20 some chapters over the last few weeks. The story is still the same, but some scenes had to be changed so if something is confusing in this chapter you can re-read the last two chapters only I think (it's just one change and it's been so long I'm sure nobody remembers ha) and that should clear it up. And I expect no one to go back and read anything, but just know it all makes sense now. ^^.

Sorry! I will never leave a long author's note like this again because I personally hate them, so I'm sure others do as well. In fact, I will never leave an author's note again.

As always, thanks to anyone who is still reading. I really appreciate the pms and reviews I received while I was gone. I'm sorry for not updating more frequently. Also, this chapter is 101% fluff fluff, so I'm very sorry in advance, but the next chapter will move the plot along.

* * *

 **Thirty**

Despite having no expectations, Meteor City still wasn't what Kurapika had been expecting.

"I can feel the judgement coming off you in droves," Kuroro said, standing beside him.

"I'm not judging you or anything around you," he replied, clutching the straps of his backpack. It contained the few possessions he still had; his phone and wallet among a few others things.

"Yeah, you are."

"Well I didn't expect your place of origin to be an actual trash can," he said, with more snark than he intended _That was harsh,_ but they were in what he could best describe as a dumpster. Maybe a landfill if he were being generous, but it lacked the sort of organization that would have.

Kuroro snorted and shook his head. "I'm full of surprises." And from the look on his face, he didn't seem genuinely offended at the remark, so Kurapika bit his tongue.

"So where are we going?" he asked, looking around.

"We're going through the trash like it's a maze." Kuroro gestured ahead, toward a small path between the towers of garbage around thme. "Come on."

They went forward, keeping a leisurely pace as they weaved past a pile of broken microwaves. _Is this place a dumping ground?_ Above him, smoke filtered into the hazy, tan sky. The air smelled faintly like fire. And unusually warm, even given the hot sun shining down on him and making his neck wet with sweat. Kurapika was grateful for his lack of a shirt but felt slightly exposed. However, Kuroro seemed nonplussed, so he rolled his shoulders and swallowed his complaints.

 _We're actually in Meteor City,_ yet somehow he didn't feel worried. Like the Spider very well could be leading him to his death at the moment, but a small voice in his head told him _that isn't the case._

"Are you remembering anything?" Kurapika asked, realizing that Kuroro was being uncommonly silent. But then it was likely this Kuroro was the real one, silent and stoic, a thought that left him feeling slightly uncomfortable. He much liked the more laid-back Kuroro.

"Not really," he replied. "But I remember more…of an empty space."

"Alright."

The crossed under a bridge of trash and soon, in the hazy distance, buildings appeared. Many of them, tall and thin, other wide and chunky.

"You look surprised?"

Kurapika looked up to see Kuroro grinning at him. "Kind of," he replied.

"Did you think I was leading you into a trap?"

"…No…well maybe. Yes and no."

The taller man chuckled. "Somehow you make perfect sense."

* * *

The city part of Meteor City, if the trash could even be considered a part of it, was in much better shape than he had expected. The streets were mostly clean of debris and garbage, and people. It wasn't that late in the day, but it seemed most everyone was hidden somewhere, trying to keep away from the heat _maybe._

"So we'll go to my place, get shirts, and get you a more comfortable set of pants, and then I can show you around?" Kuroro said. "I know there are places of empty desert around here, I just don't know exactly where. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for."

Kurapika nodded. "That's fine with me." _He has a house?_ "You live alone?"

"I do but…they might be there," he replied.

"No." Kurapika gave him a look. "Seriously?"

"Yes, they might. I just want to warn you," he said. "It's highly unlikely, but I have been missing for a while."

"Well thanks," he said.

Kuroro threw an arm around his shoulder.

Kurapika coughed. Twice. "Excuse me?"

"The people here aren't welcoming to visitors…I don't think. The closer you look to me, the easier it'll be to get to my place in one piece." Kuroro flashed his teeth at him.

"Seriously?"

"Dead." Kuroro pulled him forward. And Kurapika could only give him a look. _He's joking, right?_ But then the strange stillness did unsettle him. Almost like they'd all cleared out knowing a stranger was among them. _What a weird place. Damn, what was I thinking coming here alone and without telling anyone?_ But he was thinking that he'd do just about anything to get these handcuffs off. _If that happens here though…I'll be in Meteor City with my worst enemy…_ But he pushed those thoughts away.

Fortunately, they arrived at Kuroro's house without incident. It was a tiny, square brick situated on what apparently was the quieter end of town. A few other houses dotted the small street. Only the sound of the wind whistling kept the company.

Kuroro pushed open the door. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Kurapika blew air out of his mouth and mentally sighed in relief that no one was around. "It's nice."

"Don't lie." They stepped inside, into a tiny kitchen that flowed into a slightly larger living decorated with a single, tan couch and glass table carrying a few books.

"I'm not lying it's just…you're the leader of the Spider," Kurapika said. "I figured you'd live somewhere a bit more grandeur."

"Contrary to your belief, I don't like to own many things," he replied.

"Mmm," Kurapika agreed, for lack of anything else to say. They crossed the living room to a door, which he pushed. It opened into a bedroom.

"So I have a white and blue t-shirt that will fit you. I might have jeans, but I know I have sweats," he said.

"Why do you have clothes my size?" Kurapika stepped inside, casting a glance at the bed and dresser, the only two items in the room.

"Because I've been waiting for the day you'd appear in my bedroom half-naked," he replied, without the slightest trace of sarcasm. "I'm kidding."

"I know you are," he said, shooting him a dark look. _And you're not funny._

"I don't know honestly. I think they belong to one of the Spiders," he said, going over to the dresser. He shifted around, finding the blue shirt and sweats. "You still have that thread?"

"Yeah." Kurapika fished it out of the backpack and held it in front of his face. "This is going to take a while."

"You're telling me."

* * *

A few hours later, they were both fully clothed and sitting on his couch. They had spent some time musing over where they should go next, but it seemed their best bet was to simply wander around until they found something. So they headed beneath the evening sky. The air smelled faintly of ash and smoke, and other things he couldn't quite decipher. And the streets were a bit fuller now; the weather slightly cooler. It was apparent Kuroro's reputation preceded him, for a few people that passed them by shot him a curious gaze of familiarity, but did little more than avert their eyes in fear a few seconds later, or drop their heads slightly. Most however seemed to make an effort to not look their way, even speeding up slightly, or moving as far away from them as possible.

They went back outside of the city, into the desert.

And then, Kurapika's stomach growled. He pinched his nose. "I can't believe I'm wearing your clothes."

"They look good on you."

"I'm wearing sweats and a sewn on shirt," he said. _Whatever._ "What are we looking for?"

"Don't get irate because you're hungry. I'll feed you soon," Kuroro said, placing a hand in his pocket. "I remember something, so I think we should head this way a bit."

"Really!" He straightened his back.

"Yes." They walked on until they were in a small clearing, where Kuroro stopped. "I think I know how I lost my memories, sort of. I was here before, or well I was walking here, because I was going to meet someone."

"Who?"

"Nobunaga," he said. Then perhaps seeing Kurapika's look of confusion, added, "Sword guy. Part of the Troupe."

"Oh," he said. "I feel like I'm still missing something."

"Me too." He shook his head. "Forget it. Let's get something to eat."

They headed back into the city, stopping at a small market. Kurapika hadn't felt like this in a while, but the desire to sink into the ground hit him strongly as they presumed the store. And he couldn't understand how Kuroro even still seemed utterly unbothered as he tried to decide between white potatoes and sweet potatoes for dinner.

"Preference?" he asked.

"Regular potatoes can be used in more ways I think, but sweet have more health benefits," Kurapika replied, crossing his arms.

Kuroro snorted, as he tossed two of both into his basket. "Regular potatoes?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean."

"What do you want with your potatoes," he said.

"I'm not cooking for you."

"I can cook," he replied, defensively. And he looked genuinely offended. "You'll be blown away with my cooking skills."

Kurapika scoffed, and had to stop himself from laughing. "Rice?"

They walked into another aisle. "White or brown."

"White? Why are you asking me?"

"Because I would eat a monkey's left foot, but you're a bit pickier than me," he plied. And Kurapika couldn't argue with that. They picked out a few fruits and veggies, before paying and heading back onto the street. Kuroro threw an arm over his shoulder. "Relax," he said. "You probably look like my girlfriend."

"Not an unfamiliar sight, I'm sure," he replied, glancing at the offending arm. He took the grocery bags from him to avoid having to do anything with his hands.

"No actually. It's probably why everyone's looking at me with more anxiety than usual," Kuroro said, chuckling slightly. But they made it back to his house without trouble, pushing open the front door.

"Holy shit!" a voice said, before he could fully step inside. Then he heard laughter. "You know I pictured you coming back a hundred different times and none of them looked like this."

Kurapika sucked in air through his teeth and briefly considered cutting his arm off with his chain to escape whatever was about to come. He didn't recognize the young man sitting at the small table, across from another, older gentlemen, at least by name. But Kurapika knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that they were both members of the infamous Phantom Troupe.


	31. Chapter 31

**Thirty-One**

Kuroro stood there for a moment, before stepping backwards and slamming the door shut.

The eventual appearance of the Troupe was inevitable given they would naturally be concerned about his absence, _but still..._ He found himself feeling rather annoyed.

The chain jingled. Beside him, Kurapika's face was scrunched up in mortification, something Kuroro wholly related to.

"Sorry," he offered.

Kurapika gave him a look.

"Let's go somewhere else." Kuroro pulled the blonde back onto the street, which they hurried down. Kuroro's desire to explain his current predicament to the Troupe was next to nil. They would be incredulous. And wholly skeptical. But his main concern was that his memories of them were rather blurred; Kuroro certainly remembered the Troupe as in recalling their existence, but beyond that there wasn't much.

And that might worry them more than anything else.

He also had vague memories of a certain blonde putting a Nen curse on him, _which means they won't be happy to see Kurapika._ He was sure they wouldn't follow him tonight, but he'd have to make an appearance tomorrow at the very least.

"Where are we going?" Kurapika asked, shuffling beside him. The blonde looked less annoyed than Kuroro figured he would be, but after a few seconds of studying his expression Kuroro realized _he's really tired._

"Figured we'd just walk until finding something habitable," he replied.

"Alright."

For a supposedly fall night, the weather was rather warm. A dense humidity hung in the air, making the chain around his wrist feel impossible less comfortable. Some bugs chirped unpleasant melodies, temporarily drowning out the awkward tension around them.

"Do you have friends besides them?" Kurapika asked, staring down at the ground as he walked.

Kuroro slowed his own pace down, slightly. _Do I have friends besides the Troupe?_ "I'm leaning towards no. What about…you?"

At the end of the street, they made a right, heading onto another street, dimly lit with various lighting objects and mostly empty save for two people ahead of them.

"Sort of."

Kuroro slowed their pace slightly. "The flute girl."

"What?" Kurapika asked.

"Your ringtone. On your phone. The girl I knocked out." _At least, I think she was a she…_

"Oh Senritsu. Yeah, we're on good terms with each other. Maybe." Kurapika bumped into him, likely by accident for he widened the distance between them immediately after.

Kuroro racked through his memories. "Those kids?"

Kurapika gave a single nod. "Gon and Killua. You kidnapped them once."

"Twice actually."

Kurapika gave him a look.

Kuroro held up his free hand. "Is it too late to apologize?"

"Yeah." Kurapika shook his head. "What about your parents?"

Kuroro shook his head, briefly wondering where these questions were coming from. But then he thought _there's nothing more awkward than a night stroll with your worst enemy._ "My parents are dead." He shoved a hand in his jeans.

"Oh. Sorry."

"I don't remember them," he replied. _And your parents?_ Seemed a most inappropriate question considering he knew what had happened to them. But his brain seemed to freeze then, stuck trying to come up with something to say.

One thing that had become apparent to Kuroro was how uncomfortable he made Kurapika; though the blonde tried to hide it with faux annoyance and general moodiness, it was terribly apparent. And it wasn't a notion Kuroro relished in. It was hard to wrap his mind around this fact, but he quite missed how much easier it was to talk to Kurapika without the weight of their past dangling between them.

"There's a house near the edge of the city we can sleep in," Kuroro said.

"A house or an abandoned dust collector?" Kurapika asked.

"A house. And it's mine. There are no abandoned places here."

"You have two houses?"

Kuroro nodded. "Well...it's hard to explain. Just come on."

* * *

"This is your house?" Kurapika stared up at the building in front of them, looking wholly unconvinced.

"Sure is." Kuroro broke the lock amd cracked open the door, hoping he wouldn't disturb its inhabitants at this late hour. But the kids appeared to be sleeping; the house's stillness marred by only the sound of wind rattling outside.

"Are you kidding me?" Kurapika whispered by his ear.

"I'm not." Kuroro waved him inside, stepping over the doorframe and into the massive lobby. "This is my house."

"Why is there a mansion here and why do you own it?"

"Keep your voice down and follow me." It was indeed a mansion, though it hadn't always been one. Previously, it was a giant warehouse full of junk.

They walked up the stairs quietly, passing by several closed doors before finding one that was open. It was furnished with a queen-sized bed, dresser, and few other things. He sat on the edge, Kurapika sitting opposite to him.

"It was a warehouse use to store trash and other junk. I brought it a few years ago and had it remodeled to resemble a mansion," Kuroro said. "I don't live here. It's an orphanage. But my name is on some paperwork somewhere indicating it belongs to me. And I paid money for it."

Kurapika snorted. Then, he pressed a hand to his head, before pinching his nose. "You are so weird."

"I'm full of surprises."

"So there are children sleeping here? In this house. Right now."

Kuroro nodded. "And we don't want to wake them. They're unruly from what I've heard. And no, I don't run it, nor ever visit it, nor do any of the Spiders." Machi sometimes liked to visit though. She had a thing for kids.

"I don't even know what to say honestly," Kurapika said, dropping his hands onto his lap. He balled his hand into a fist and began tapping it on the bed. "Why did you start an orphanage?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. It was just something to do since I was able to."

Kurapika stopped hitting the bed. "I find your honesty refreshing," he said.

"So are you tired?" Kuroro asked.

"Sure," he replied. "Do you sleep?"

"Not really. So if you don't mind there's like a small library in the attic I think. I'll just grab a book ad read while you nap."

They got up, heading upstairs quietly. The mansion was four stories tall, with the top floor reserved for education _, or something_. Frankly, he wasn't sure, but there was a small library among the rooms there full of books he'd mostly collected and donated, or had read too many times.

He perused the shelves carefully.

Kurapika cleared his throat.

"What do you like to read?" Kuroro asked, his hand resting on a book's spine. _Interesting Finds in the Gordeu Desert. Sounds…interesting._

"Mostly...everything," Kurapika replied. "Though I'm fond of history. What about you?"

He plucked a book off the shelf. "I like horticulture. And everything."

"Do you have a garden?"

"Have you seen the landscape of this place?" He quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You have money...you could move," Kurapika replied. "You could plant some fake grass somewhere."

 _True._ "I've considered moving. Planting fake grass is a sure way to get robbed though," Kuroro said.

"What's stopping you?"

"Myself mostly."

They headed back downstairs, to the room, making their way to the bed. It took some time to set everything up. Kurapika insisted on brushing his teeth and washing his face despite the late hour, and it took time to track down the toiletries he nodded. But soon they were tucked beneath the covers, the room lit with a single lamp set on the nightstand beside him.

Kuroro cleared his throat, leaned his back against the pillow, and opened the book. His eyes scanned the pages slowly, taking in information. But his mind wasn't on 17th century archeological finds in the Gordeu Desert. Besides him, Kurapika shifted, sinking under the covers, then pulling them up to his chin. While Kuroro was trying not to watch him, he also couldn't help himself.

The blonde emerged from the sheets, turning onto his side slightly. Then he flipped onto his back and let out a tiny sigh.

Kuroro turned the page. Then another, a few seconds later. Realizing he hadn't actually read anything, he flipped back to the last page.

Kurapika cleared his throat.

Kuroro snapped the book shut. "This isn't going to work."

"No it's not," Kurapika said. He let out a sigh and sat up, his blond hair in slight disarray. "Was worth a try though."

"It was." Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he considered their next option. "I'd say we should look around, but it's sort of late to be strolling through the city."

"What's with this place?" But seemingly realizing his tone, Kurapika lowered his gaze slightly. "I mean...I just get weird vibes like I'm..."

"Not welcomed?" Kuroro suggested.

"Yeah."

"Sounds about right," Kuroro replied. "Which is why I don't really want to walk around at night."

Kurapika gave him a look.

"Not for that reason," he said. "I just don't want to fight anyone. I'm well aware you can defend yourself, but we're stuck together, so you fighting, means me fighting. I'm trying it make my presence as minimal as possible until we get separated."

"I got it." Kurapika said. "How many hours until daylight."

"Six or seven."

"Wonderful. Can we go back to the library?"

"Sure."

They got up, pattering down the hall quietly. He gave him an impromptu tour of the attic, which had been sectioned off into four different rooms: a library, and three classrooms of purposes unknown to him. Then, since sleep was impossible, they spent a good bit of time wandering around and talking about various things in hushed whispers. Kurapika was a surprisingly good conversationalist. And his knowledge on a number of random subjects made talking with him interesting. Eventually, they went back to the room and sat on the bed.

"Why don't you sleep?" Kurapika asked, setting the book he'd picked out on his lap carefully.

Kuroro shrugged. "I do sleep, just usually not for long." he said. "Can't remember if it's a bad habit or for some reason I trained myself to sleep that way."

Kurapika, seemingly content with this answer, opened his book and stared down at it.

* * *

When the sun finally peeked through the curtains, Kuroro yawned and stretched slightly. He'd spent at least three hours straight reading and reflecting on what's had read, which there wasn't much to reflect upon when it came to archaeological finds. Still, it was good exercise for his brain.

"Morning." Kuroro glanced at Kurapika. _Seriously?_ Shoulder slumped, head slightly bowed, the blonde was fast asleep beside him.

He refrained from sighing, opting instead to just stare at the gray wall across the room. While he wasn't tired of reading, he was hoping to escape this place unnoticed. There wasn't much time anyway to investigate before the other members of the Troupe tracked him down. They would be curious, naturally, because of his long absence and because he'd appeared attached to Kurapika out of the blue. He supposed he could spin some tale about recruiting him, _but how do I explain these damn handcuff?_

Soon, the familiar chatter of children filtered through the air.

 _I have got to get the hell out of here._

The door burst open. A little girl stood there, dressed in tattered, gray sweats and a white shirt, and gasped.

The door's banging had the effect of waking up Kurapika, who sat up so quickly the books\ tumbled off his lap and to the floor.

Kuroro waved. "Hello."

"Mistress!" The girl ran off. "There's a man up here!"

"What the hell?" That was Kurapika, blinking rapidly. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Kuroro shot him a look, before conjuring his book. He flipped through the pages before landing on the one he wanted. Then, wrapping an arm about Kurapika's shoulders, he teleported them into the kitchen of his actual house, which prayerfully was empty.

Kurapika was blinking rapidly. "That was…useful."

"Comes in handy." Placing a hand on his lips, he trained his ears around the, Realistically, there was a high chance the members of the Troupe would try to kill Kurapika as soon as they were separated, maybe even before if they suspected he was under some Nen curse. Kuroro hadn't thought about that overmuch, what to do once separated. But not killing him was on that list. His main concern would be finding the riddler and throttling him.

"A needle?" Kurapika lifted it up off the kitchen table, holding it in front of his nose.

Kuroro looked around his apartment. About seven, silver needles lay scattered around the floor and table. _Did Machi do this?_

"Awfully petty if she did," Kurapika said.

"How do you know about her?" Kuroro asked.

He shrugged. "Hisoka told me some about your Nen abilities. Not really yours. But I remember the needle girl."

"Right." _Damn that clown_. "It's not her Nen though," Kuroro said. But it also didn't resemble the needles they'd found earlier. _Is this a sign we're on the right track, or something designed to catch us off guard?_

"Seems random," Kurapika said. "I think it's probably just to distract us."

They sat at his table, musing over the needles, and various other things. _Like why have these not fallen off?_

"Well, we have to stay together until my memories are restored," Kuroro said. "I remember who I am, but I don't have all my memories back, so that must be it. The last thing I was doing before losing my memories I think I was in Meteor City with one of the Spiders."

"How do we get them back?" Kurapika asked.

 _No clue._ But it seemed their restoration was loosely tied to triggers. He'd remembered who he was because of a perfume that Pakunoda use to where. And his other memories seemed to return for similar reasons. "Finding Nobu and asking him what we were doing is a start," Kuroro said. "I didn't see him here yesterday though."

"So I guess we have to talk to them," Kurapika said.

"Unfortunately," Kuroro said. And he meant it too. "I know where we can find them." Outside of himself, there was only one other member of the Troupe who owned a permanent place of residence in Meteor City.

* * *

"Look who just came back from the dead," Shalnark said as Kuroro came through the front door of Machi's apartment. He was seated at Machi's stained wood, kitchen table, across from the pink-haired woman herself. A brief scan around him revealed Phinks and Feitan were also somewhere in the general vicinity.

"And he came with a full-scale, robotic clone of the chain guy?" Shalnark's eyebrows went up.

Kuroro gave the blonde next to him a friendly pat on his shoulder. "He's the real thing actually."

"Fucking with us?" That was Feitan, standing in the door to the living room and wearing his usual scowl.

"I'm not unfortunately. This is Kurapika. And we are stuck together." Kuroro lifted up the handfuffs and sighed, without really meaning too. "It's a long story, but short of killing each other, we can't get these off."

Phinks cleared his throat, standing just above Feitan. "Well lemme be the one to ask then, why the hell haven't you tried killing each other?"

"Because it's not an option," Kuroro said.

"Why not?"

Kuroro shot him a look and Phink's wrinkled his brow and pressed his lips together. "Where's Nobunaga?" Kuroro asked.

"He left this morning. Didn't say where he was going or when he'd be back," Shal shrugged.. "Sort of like what you did a few months ago. Not to throw any shade or anything."

 _Really?_ "Any clue where I went?" Kuroro asked.

Shal just stared at him, as did Machi, both with twin expressions of confusion.

"Like I said, it's a long, mostly irrelevant story," Kuroro said. "So Nobu's gone and there's no way to contact him?"

"Things have been rough since you left, Danchou," Shal said, though there was a note of humor in his voice. "The whole Troupe's fallen apart."

 _Great._ Kuroro sat at the table. Next to Machi. He gave Shal a look. "Get up," he said.

Shalnark hopped up from the chair. "All yours, madam," Shal said, gesturing towards his now empty seat. Kurapika gave him a look. But sat down in the empty seat.

"So you two are stuck together," Machi said, placing her elbows on the table. "Why were you two even together to get stuck together?"

Kuroro slid one of the needles they'd found earlier across the table to her. "Did you rig my house?"

Machi picked up the needles, studying it carefully. "It's not mine. Answer my question," she said.

"I lost my memory," Kuroro said, eliciting a melodramatic gasp from Shalnark, which he didn't acknowledge. "I woke up and couldn't recall where I was. Just so happened I woke up not far from where he lives. We ran into each other." At this, Kuroro turned his gaze to the Kurta who was moodily sinking down into his seat. "And for some reason I can't comprehend he decided to help me."

"Probably to kill you," Phinks said.

"Probably." He nodded. "But before any revenge plans could come to fruition, we ran into some sort of Nen riddler, who slapped these on us and said we'd be stuck together until my memories returned."

"Which they clearly have," Machi said. Her nose wrinkled. "Also that sounds like bull shit. You're clearly leaving a lot out."

"Because it's irrelevant," Kuroro said. "I need to find Nobu as I think he was one of the last people I saw before I lost my memories."

Machi regarded him carefully; she was trying to figure something out, but what he wasn't sure. _Maybe if I'm lying?_ But at this stage, Kuroro didn't care what she thought _I want to get out of these damn chains._

"Hadn't ran off last night, could've found him," Feitan said, with more snark befitting his small stature.

"Thanks for reminding me," Kuroro said. He stood up, motioning for Kurapika to do the same. "See ya."

"Where are you going?" Machi asked.

"Well, I'll see if I can contact Franklin or Shizuku, maybe they know where he went. Beyond that, I'm not sure," he replied.

"Have an idea," Fetain said, raising a hand in the air. He stepped into the kitchen.

Kuroro looked down at him.

He made a slicing motion through the air with his hands. "Chop off his arm,"

Kuroro walked out of the apartment, dragging the blonde behind him. And he wasn't surprised when Machi came out after him.

She stood in front of them, arms crossed, at the top of the stairwell of the apartment complex. "A few weeks ago Nobu brought a store. Belonged to some guy who died, and I think it was a pawn shop. Anyway, it's possible he's there." With her two middle fingers, she pressed a small, folded sheet of paper against his chest. "Also, maybe you really don't remember, but Nobu was pretty sick right before you vanished. Not sure if it's related at all, but that needle you gave me sort of resembles the thing that made him sick when he was off looking for something…for you."

Kuroro took the paper. "What?"

Machi gave a tiny shrug. "I don't really know the story actually; Nobu doesn't even know what happened."

"So I sent Nobunaga out to get something for me, he was pricked by a needle or something like it, and fell ill?" he asked. _What the hell?_

"Yeah, he almost died!" That was Shal. "It was some crazy thing, he was like turning into a vampire he was so pale. And he couldn't move for days, then he started acting crazy like he had dementia. You left right after he had this wild episode and never returned. But Nobu got better.

"And he doesn't remember anything about his illness," Machi said.

 _Interesting._ "Thanks," Kuroro said as Shal disappeared back inside.

"You're not welcome," she replied, shooting him a look. "You're an asshole."

"Me?"

"You. He's an asshole, right?" Machi asked.

Kurapika gave a nod, probably subconsciously, but Kuroro still felt mildly offended.

"You probably don't remember, but when your memories return, I hope you're less of a shithead." Machi pushed past him, abruptly, and walked back into her apartment. The door rattled as it slammed shut behind her.

Kurapika snorted. "Did you break up with her?" he asked.

Kuroro shook his head, honestly unable to think of any response. _Did I?_ He felt no strong affection for her at the moment, _have I just forgotten?_

 _Whatever._ Unfolding the paper, Kuroro recognized the address right away. "Here's to hoping Nobu there," he said.


	32. Chapter 32

**AN:** Sorry for not uploading in 100 years. Thanks to anyone who left a review on the last chapter!

 **Thirty-Two**

It might have been the heat, or the general gloominess clinging to the air like a malevolent spirit, but Kurapika felt _really_ annoyed. This, he realized, was a natural reaction to being involuntarily bound to someone for longer an extended period of time. But he found some solace in the fact that if the look on Kuroro's face was anything to judge by, the taller man felt just as agitated.

"Where are we going again?" Kurapika asked. They were standing in the middle of the sweltering street, in front of a building that looked to have recently been condemned. Much like most of the buildings he'd passed by.

Kuroro lifted the tiny paper to his face, clearly pretending to read it again. "I'm fairly certain this is the address Machi gave us."

"Really?"

"Stop being so judgmental," he replied, giving him a look.

"I'm not," Kurapika said. They stepped up to the front door, which was covered by a large, brown plank of wood, and Kuroro knocked. Twice. _No answer._

"This is a waste of time," Kurapika said, before he could think better of it. "I mean this doesn't look like anything anyone has been in for several years."

Kuroro let out a long sigh, before knocking again.

"Ply the wood off?" Kurapika said.

Kuroro gave him a look. "I can teleport us inside."

"Then why don't you?" He frowned, and tried to push down his snark. "Don't you have to like see where you're going, or at least know where you're going first?"

"It's a small building. Highly unlikely we'll end up in a wall," Kuroro said. He placed a hand on Kurapika's shoulder and suddenly they were in a building that _clearly hasn't been inhabited in years._ Dust coated the floor; a tiny stream of floated by his nose. The windows were boarded up, letting a few rays of foggy sunlight into the room. There were round, jade bugs crawling along the floor, by his shoes.

Kurapika sneezed.

"Bless you," Kuroro replied, stepping over a pile of dirty sheets. "Anyone here?"

"No," Kurapika replied. He didn't sense anyone, but it was also quiet enough to hear a pin drop. "Did your friend give you bad information?" Kurapika asked. _Maybe this is a set up and they're going to ambush and kill me._

"Maybe." He looked around. "Even for my low standards, this place is trashy. I can't imagine Nobunaga buying it."

Kurapika snorted. They took a look around the building, which was three rooms. One of which appeared to be a storage room, the other was empty, and the third being the main room they'd entered.

"The storage room's been recently cleaned," Kurapika said, noting the boxes which were dust free. Four neat stacks of plastic boxes with the words _Departure Manufacturers: What runs out when you push it_? scrawled across it.

Kuroro pried one of the boxes. It was filled with needles. "Wasn't Departure the name of Jasper's shipping company?" he asked.

"I think so," Kurapika replied. But he frankly couldn't really remember. "Didn't that kid say those needles belonged to his boss? And Jasper owned that…museum, right?"

"What kid? And what museum?" Kuroro said as he plucked one of the needles out. "Oh right. I honestly have no idea, but if you think so then sure."

"I'm looking it up," Kurapika said. But when he pulled his phone out he had no service.

"Cell service in this part of the city isn't the best. There's a library we can go to," Kuroro said. "But we should wait here a little longer."

"Why?"

"It's not like we have anything else to do."

Kurapika couldn't really argue with that, but he didn't want to wait _here in this messy place. Geez,_ he's have thought by now Kuroro would have realized he possessed a strong affinity to dirt.

"Can we at least wait outside?" Kurapika asked.

"Sure," Kuroro said. "We can wait outside."

Something crashed onto the ground. Kurapika flinched, then spun around, hoping it was just mice. Kuroro dropped to the ground, concealing himself behind the boxes; Kurapika followed suit though he sent his partner a quizzical look which was given only a slight shrug in response.

"Damn it," a voice said. "You said he was in here."

"I thought he was," someone replied.

"He owes me money," the voice said.

"He owes you money?" Someone snorted. "Did he fall under hard times or something?"

"No, I don't know. He just peeled off one day and never returned. Someone said he got real sick after fighting that….whatever that was."

"Doesn't seem like him to take off."

 _Are they talking about Kuroro?_ But again, his glance was met with another shrug. His nose started to itch, then tingle. _I cannot sneeze right now._ He placed a finger under his nose.

"Someone said he'd brought a shop here but clearly not," the first voice said. "I mean, the door's still boarded up. No one's been here for a while."

There was some shuffling, then a cracking noise like wood being split and the two strangers were gone.

Kurapika sneezed, then rubbed his nose. "Nen users," he said, standing up onto wobbly legs.

"Interesting," Kuroro replied, straightening up beside him. "I guess they're looking for Nobunaga."

Kurapika shook his head. "But why would your friend send us here…?" Something didn't add up.

"Hold on," Kuroro fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. The phone rang a few times before going to a generic voicemail.

A thought occurred to Kurapika just then; one that seemed quite silly and impossible almost. But it had been a while since the riddler had played any tricks on them.

"Impossible," Kuroro said as if reading his thoughts, though it was hard to tell if that was his own vanity speaking, or he genuinely believed the riddler who'd fooled them several times already wasn't capable of doing so again.

"Call your friend again," Kurapika said, raising one eyebrow.

Kuroro tried a second time. This time Machi picked up.

"I'm putting you on speaker," Kuroro said, extending the phone towards Kurapika.

"Why?" Machi asked.

"You know that address you gave me?" Kuroro said. "For Nobu's shop?"

"What address?" she replied. "And what shop?"

"After I left, you came out and gave me the address," Kuroro said.

There was a small pause on the other line. "What are you talking about? Nobunaga doesn't have a shop."

"That answers my question. Thanks," Kuroro replied. He hung up.

"Damn it," Kurapika said. "Did the riddler pose as your friend?"

Kuroro's brows came together. "I'm not just saying this because I'm confident in my abilities, but there is no way the riddler could have hidden among the Troupe for longer than a few seconds. Nor was anyone in the stairwell, I would've sensed it."

"Same here, but…" He frowned. _That doesn't make any sense._ "Well, we don't know for sure if that's the case. It's not a bad idea to confirm with…Machi in person that she really didn't give you that address."

"I'll text her to meet us here." He stared down at his phone and started typing something. "But let's imagine that was the riddler: did he lead us here to throw us off, because we were actually onto something with Nobu? Or is he trying to give us a hint?"

Kurapika pinched the bridge of his nose. _Maybe a bit of both. That swordsman was the last person to see Kuroro, presumably, at least Kuroro thinks so…but what if he's not?_ "I don't know. You were the one that theorized the riddler does want us to eventually break free."

"Yes, because there has to be some consequence for him to keep us together," Kuroro said. "Unless he's not human at all."

Kurapika frowned. "Maybe."

"There's got to be something tying everything," Kuroro said, peering down at him.

 _I concur._ Kurapika nodded. "So the riddler said when you're memory returns, we'd be set free."

"I think he said restored," Kuroro said. "And yeah but here we are."

Kurapika gave him a look, before sneezing. "Semantics."

"I remember almost everything," Kuroro said. "I know who I am, I know who you are, I know the Troupe, I know my favorite authors and books. But there are still some pieces missing and my memories don't necessarily seem connected."

Kurapika sneezed again. "Meaning?" He rubbed his nose.

Kuroro stepped over and place a hand on his shoulder, transporting them out of the dusty store and back onto the street. "Meaning that my original memory loss may not have been tied to the riddler at all, or it could have been. I last remember seeing Nobu, perhaps he was the riddler in disguise? But I can't say that for certain. So the riddler's clue may in fact have nothing to do with me regaining my memories, or they might. And that's been our problem since we got caught together, we don't know what we're looking for and as such have been stuck following whatever lead seems reasonable, even if it's not."

That idea only left Kurapika feeling more irate. "So then what can we do?"

"Resign ourselves to being stuck together forever."

Kurapika gave him a look.

"Kidding." Kuroro smiled at him wryly. "We have to consider only what we know for certain. No wild leads. No assuming anything prior to this is connected."

"Just start from the beginning?" Kurapika said. _That makes sense actually._ But he really had no desire to start over. "So let's only take into consideration times we were certain we saw the riddler, or got a clue from him." He thought back to that unfortunate first encounter. "At the beginning, the riddler said we'd need luck finding your memories, could that have been a clue? Did he say anything else?"

"We're going to assume it was," Kuroro replied. "But when did we see him next? Was he the drunken man at the bar?"

"Yeah." Kurapika frowned. "But he didn't really say anything important then. So was our next encounter was Jasper or was he unrelated."

"Let's walk to my house," Kuroro said getting onto the sidewalk. "Machi said she'll meet us there in a few hours."

Kurapika shuffled up beside him.

"To answer your question, I'm going to say Jasper was unrelated to the riddler, but may have been connected to how I lost my memories," Kuroro added. "I think the only times we've encountered the riddler was at first, in the bar, and on the plane, and then possibly just now. Because those times we had no idea he was there. Whoever that second Jasper was, I could sense something wasn't right with him, her, whatever. I had dismissed Jasper as being a clue because I felt like everything with him was a red herring, but now I think maybe not."

 _Yeah, what was with those two Jaspers?_ "That was strange," Kurapika said, still feeling some resentment over how that situation ended. "All of this isn't helping though. I mean, we still don't really have a lead."

"Maybe not," Kuroro said. His eyes narrowed slight, and he shoved one of his hands into his jean pocket. "What was that you said about needing luck being a clue?"

"The riddler said that," Kurapika replied. _I think._

"What did that box say? In that old building back there?""

"…Departure Manufacturers: What…" Kurapika mentally slapped himself as realization dawned on him. "That was a clue!"

"What runs out when you push it?" Kuroro said. "The answer is luck. Good luck finding his memories, the riddler said. The needles that led us to the riddler were manufactured by Departure."

"So do we have a clue?" Kurapika said.

"I think so."

* * *

When they arrived at Kuroro's house, the pink-haired woman was waiting for them. She assured them she had neither come out after him, nor had she given him any address. That left the sword guy missing with seemingly no way of contacting him.

But at least this time Kuroro's friend seemed convinced they really were stuck together and weren't playing a game. She left them, all the same. And then they went to the library.

As with everywhere, Kurapika stuck out like a sore thumb. Granted, barring anything else, being chained together would have caused people to glance their way anyhow. But he felt like he was giving off foreigner signals; letting all of Meteor City know he didn't belong here.

"Did you fund this?" Kurapika asked, as they waited in line to use the computer. They were about ten people away and seeing as there was a 10 minute time limit, _we could be waiting for almost two hours._

Kuroro nodded.

"Why don't you own a computer?"

"I don't need one," Kuroro said. Then he gave him a grin, catching Kurapika off-guard, before turning to face the front.

 _What a weirdo._

"I think I gave up my memories," Kuroro said, stepping back to stand a little closer to him.

Kurapika sighed. "That doesn't help."

"It does actually. There are very few reasons I can think of as to why I would've given up my memories and they all hinge on me believing I could get them back," he replied. "So when I gave them up, I must've been confident they would return. Or that I would somehow get them back without too much trouble, so I do think for certain my memory loss isn't connected to the riddler."

"So we need to look into that," Kurapika said. "Because maybe when you recall why you've lost your memories, the chains will fall."

"Hopefully."

The line moved surprisingly quickly until an hour later it was their turn. Kurapika went to the Hunter's website to look up information on Departure Manufacturers. They were a part of Departure Shipping unofficially, _owned by one Jasper_.

"They specialize in making drugs," Kurapika said. "Hence the needles. Or I guess syringes."

"Shouldn't their be vials?" Kuroro said, his eyes scanning through the website. "The company use to be based near Jasper's home, but since his death they moved to Yorkshin."

"Huh." Kurapika said as he stared at the computer. He pointed to the screen. "Look at that."

Kuroro leaned forward. "….Specializes in experimental memory drugs using a mixture of science and Nen. Looks like we're headed to Yorkshin."


	33. Chapter 33

**Thirty-three**

The chain had returned to its original length, giving them ample space as they ambled through the desert outside of Metero City. The air was hot and humid, even under the cover of night. Beads of sweat trickled down Kurapika's face.

Kuroro was ahead of him, in the darkness somewhere. The late hour of their departure hadn't escaped Kurapika's notice but he suspected it had more to do with their flying arrangements than anything else. Still, he got the distinct impression they were leaving rather hastily given how lackadaisical Kuroro had been hours earlier, shortly before their third argument of the day, while perusing a grocery store for dinner.

"You're not running from someone are you?" Kurapika asked as he seriously considered taking off his shirt. _But I'd have to rip it and then…I'd have no shirt._

"Would it worry you if we were?" Kuroro replied, slowing to stand next to him.

"Are you?"

"Sort of," Kuroro said, eliciting an eye roll from Kurapika. "Before you get annoyed, I was trying to arrange some payments for sellers of mine before I left. Then I decided it wasn't worth angering you further over and that we should just leave for Yorkshin. But I don't think I left soon enough, or I left too soon, because we're being followed, which you noticed."

Kurapika sighed. "Who could you possibly owe money too?"

"Not debt owe but as in I didn't pay people for their work." Kuroro said, shoving his free hand into his pants pocket. "They did a half-assed job so I gave them half their pay, but Shal told me I should be honest or something so people would keep dealing with us."

"Well yeah." Kurapika glanced over his shoulder. They were being followed, but it was hard to tell by how many. Whoever they were was good at concealing their Nen.

"They aren't gonna jump us in the middle of the desert so relax," Kuroro said.

"My anger's not worth dying over, so next time pay up." Kurapika crossed his arms and walked ahead of him. They kept forward until the sun appeared and they arrived at what Kurapika could best describe as organized stacks of garbage. After a while, they were in some sort of city. Buildings resembling apartment complexes were scattered amongst mound of white sand. And the place was inhabited by people. Lots of them, huddled in the streets, pushing past each other in small streams. Kurapika stepped closer to Kuroro, _though there isn't any chance we'll get separated from each other._

"Is this a city or something?" Kurapika asked.

"It's something alright."

Kurapika snorted. And soon they arrived at their destination. One of Kuroro's acquaintances who owned a car. They drove several hours in a car through haphazardly forged roads until they arrived at the airport which was basically a wide, flat spot of sand.

Nevertheless, Kurapika felt immensely grateful to be leaving Meteor City as they boarded a small plane. And now he could think more clearly about what to do next.

"So do you think you took a drug that wiped your memory?" Kurapika asked.

Kuroro's head was pressed against the headrest and his eyes were closed. "Absolutely not. Unless I or one of the Troupe was in danger and even then it's highly unlikely I take such a thing. Maybe I was tricked, but I don't think that's the case either."

 _Then,_ the only solid clue they had about what Kuroro had been doing shortly before they met was _the Scarlet Eyes_. The Eyes connected to Jasper, and Jasper seemed interested in Kuroro but none of that really added up _unless Jasper was working with Kuroro before he lost his memories? Why did he have that shrine to him though?_ He glanced at his older companion, who for once appeared to be fighting off sleep. _Was Jasper stalking Kuroro or keeping tabs on him for some other reason? Maybe it wasn't Jasper's shrine; could it have been his wife's or…that shapeshifters?_ The whole situation confused him, but he couldn't help but feel everything was connected somehow.

But Kuroro didn't seem to remember anything about Jasper, _or at least he hasn't divulged that information if he does._ Kurapika regretted not being more thorough in interrogating Spider earlier, when he wasn't quite himself. Now, it was unlikely Kuroro would tell him anything.

* * *

When they landed in Yorkshin, it didn't take long to locate Departure Manufacturers, because nobody liked the new boss and seemed glad the leader of the Troupe was looking for him. Various directions took them to a large skyscraper in the middle of the busy city. According to several Departure haters, Departure took up the entire building, though the first floor was apparently a front. But the most eye-catching thing about the building was its logo, a large, silver kitsune plastered across a billboard on the structure's roof.

"So are we just walking in?" Kurapika asked as they stood outside. "Do we have a plan? Are we winging it, like usual?"

"Winging it?" Kuroro raised an eyebrow, looking slightly amused. "I could teleport us inside, but we don't exactly know what we're looking for. So yeah, we're winging it."

"Information on that memory drug. We should start there, because that seems like a clue," Kurapika offered. Because they had to start somewhere.

Kuroro agreed. Inside, the receptionist at the front desk asked if they were waiting for a shipment of which Kuroro announced they were interested in the manufacturing part and wanted to meet the boss.

The lady smiled and told them to wait in the lobby. Ten minutes later, two men wearing red suits appeared and ushered them into the elevator. They went up to the third floor which opened up to what looked like a full laboratory, men and women in white jackets included. They were led down a hall to a small office where they were informed the boss would meet with them in half an hour, before the two men left.

"We're probably going to get shot at. This was way too easy, but I'm guessing the boss heard I was looking for him," Kuroro said. "Let's take a look around."

Kurapika snorted, but he followed him as they went out the door. The labcoats were surprisingly chatty, probably assuming the two would soon be dead, and readily divulged they were working on a number of serums designed to manipulate a person's memory though they didn't seem to know what for. They were still in the testing stages, mainly because the serum had proved to only be effective in wiping a person's memory out permanently. Their goal was to be able to alter specific memories to their liking, _which is disturbing._

"Has the serum been tested on anyone?" Kurapika asked.

"Not many, miss, and mostly by accident," a labcoat said. "We had a break in some time ago. Someone stole some of the serum."

Kurapika gave Kuroro a look, but the older man only shrugged in response. _I don't think it was him…_

"Ah there you are," a voice behind them said.

The two of them spun around and met an unfamiliar face. A short woman dressed in a white lab coat. "It's nice to finally meet you, Spider."

"Not really," Kuroro replied. "I'm interested in the drug. Namely, because I've been in contact with it. I'm not looking to kill you, or rob you."

Her expression didn't change as she offered them a seat in her office, which they accepted and went to. Kurapika milled over what to ask. But given this woman had recently taken control of Jasper's business, it was unlikely she knew anything at all. _We were better off talking to the coats._

"We're curious about Jasper," Kurapika said. "Before his death, he was tracking us. And we want to know if that has anything to do with your company."

The woman sat at her desk, folding her hands across the table. "Introductions?"

"I'm fairly certain you know who I am," Kuroro said, placing a hand on the smooth, gray desk. "And you're going to kill us anyway, so formalities hardly matter."

The woman's pleasant expression didn't falter. _I'm getting weird vibes from her. Actually,_ Kurapika wasn't getting any vibes from her. Almost like she wasn't actually there.

"Call me Yooa. And I didn't keep up with what Jasper did," she replied, shaking her head. "But I know one of your Troupe members broke into here some weeks back and stole something."

Kuroro let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

Yooa expression finally cracked into a frown. "Pardon me?"

"I thought I had stolen it, which would've explained why I lost my memory but not why I'd be careless enough to drug myself," he said, matter-of-factly. "So I'm glad I didn't screw myself over by mistake."

Kurapika resisted the urge to snort, or shake his head, instead focusing on keeping his expression stoic.

"You lost your memory?" Yooa asked.

"Partially," Kuroro replied. "Your product isn't very good, because they came back. I don't know how, but somehow I stumbled upon your serum while Jasper was still boss. All I need to know is how to get my memories to return."

"How should I know?" Yooa's fingers twitched. She pulled them back, concealing them beneath the desk. "Frankly, Jasper left me nothing in regards to what he was doing with the serum."

"So you inherited a company you know nothing about?" Kurapika asked. The conversation was hitting a roadblock. He could tell they were going nowhere.

Kuroro moved so quickly and smoothly, had Kurapika been paying attention, he would've missed the motion entirely. Under the desk, his book was open on his lap.

"Well, that's not entirely true," Yooa said, leaning back. "Jasper…he wasn't what he seemed to be—"

Lights started flashing. A high-pitched squeal filled the air. Kurapika looked up only to be doused in water.

The fire alarm had gone off.


End file.
